The pilot boat "Nova Pilot" heading out from her berth in Halifax, Canada

A French munitions ship and a Norwegian steamer collided in Halifax harbour in December 1917, and the blast that followed remains the largest human-made explosion before the atomic bomb. Within six days, a formal inquiry opened — and within two months it placed nearly all the blame on one harbour pilot. Wreck Commissioner Arthur Drysdale's inquiry found Mont-Blanc's pilot and captain responsible for the collision that triggered the disaster, and all three men involved, including a naval...

Pilot leaves the Regent Seven Seas Navigator at Halifax

Pilot boarding the Auto Carrier Mediterranean Highway inbound to Halifax Harbour.
Editors note:
"The pilot's greatest enemy is often the pilot himself: Please do not carry a backpack together with your life jacket! The backpack can massively hinder the deployment and the effect of the lifejacket!"
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After a number of cruises in which I have watched with admiration and fascination as the harbor pilots do their magic. This is a short video showing the operation upon the departure of the Sapphire Princess from Kleipeda, Lithuania in the summer of 2026.
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Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation delivered a new Chesapeake class pilot boat to the Associated Federal Pilots in Venice, Louisiana.

Here’s a pretty cool video covering the recent sea trials we undertook with the La Coruna pilot boat. Some nice gale footage 20 miles offshore, and the fun we had trying to land the drone back down in high winds as well as alongside ship handling trials with the Taccola, operating out of Cork Harbour at present.

Footage showing what the simulators look like and how they can be used to simulate ship movement in various ports.

Captain Bronson Stubbs discusses what harbor pilots do