Look at Life - Pilot Aboard 1963

Many people wonder how ships made it across entire oceans without getting lost in the seventeenth century. Aaron introduces seventeenth century navigation to us today by beginning with piloting.

Look at Life - City of Sailors - Portsmouth - 1965
Portsmouth is no longer the sea-faring city it once was; this film from the Documentary Series "Look At Life" Volume 5 - Cultural Heritage in 1965 looks at its changing face.

Step back in time to the height of Britain's maritime influence with this look at the unsung heroes of the shipping industry: the sea pilots. In the 1960s, as global trade patterns shifted and shipping technology began its rapid evolution, British sea pilots remained the vital, trusted guides navigating the world’s most complex waterways. From the treacherous currents of the River Mersey to the bustling ports of the coast, these men held the legal conduct of massive vessels in their hands,...

"A routine pilot task"

The arrival of machine learning and artificial intelligence has taken efficiency to a whole new level. Software platforms can now suggest maintenance routines, recommend spare-part changes, and even predict breakdowns of machinery.

Captain Matt Glass, a deputy pilot with the Houston Pilots, boards and guides the UAL Capetown on the Houston Ship Channel from the landing area outside Galveston Bay to the Manchester docks in Houston, a voyage of about 7 hours.

Marine pilots must make crucial decisions under extreme conditions. Transferring from a cargo ship to a small pilot boat in hurricane-force gusts can be fatal. For marine pilots, this is the most dangerous moment in their daily working lives: climbing down a rope ladder from a cargo ship in gale-force gusts, and transferring to a small pilot boat. In mid-January, a pilot fell into the sea off Borkum and was taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia. Just a few days earlier, a British...

HOW WE DRIVE- Different methods of steering, navigating and maneuvering the Celebrity Edge, a 130,818 gross ton, 306 meter, $1.2 billion dollar new luxury liner. When we’re underway and I walk around the ship and guest's see the Captain, the question I get asked ALL. THE. TIME is “If you’re here, who is driving the ship”. The answer is the Officer of the Watch. We have a minimum of 3 very qualified and licensed officers manning the bridge at ALL times. 3 separate teams rotate every 4...

Poseidon Sea Pilots (an AMS Group subsidiary) invited our CoastGuard team to check out the new Pilot boats that are operating out of Mooloolaba.
These Pilots work night & day escorting large ships in and out of the port of Brisbane.

This is Paddy Rooney, Coxswain of the Carlingford Pilot Boat, on the lough which separates County Down and County Louth. The boat operates out of a small jetty at Greencastle - so called after it's Norman castle near the shore and not far from the town of Rostrevor with it's beautiful park and colourful streets. In this film Paddy and his crew rendezvoused with a cargo ship at Greenore Port - which is also a uniquely preserved 1800's railway village .