Princess Royal Explores High-Tech Pilot Boat in London

This documentary made in 1959 in the popular Look at Life series is from Volume 5 - Cultural History and takes a journey along the River Thames passing several famous buildings and monuments such as - County Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Shell Mex House which has the biggest clock face in London. Cleopatra's Needle, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Port of London Authority, Prospect of London Pub, Port of London Docks.

Compilation clip highlighting some of the diverse custom boats Dongara Marine has built in recent years.

Spotted some Pilot Boats in the Port of Auckland, New Zealand and Melbourne & Fremantle Australia (Port codes: Auckland:NZ AKL ; Melbourne:AU MEL ; Fremantle:AU FRE).

A week of ship traffic on the seven seas, seen from space. Get a glimpse of the vibrant lanes of goods transport that link the continents.
The vessel movements were captured using newest terrestrial and space-borne AIS technology from FleetMon and its partner Luxspace. The records cover the world's merchant fleet with some 100.000s of cargo ships, tankers, ferries, cruise ships, yachts and tugs. FleetMon provides advanced fleet monitoring services, software APIs, reports and analyses of...

Shortly after 5 a.m. local time the vessel “Else” had a collision in the Kiel-Holtenau lock to the Kiel Canal.
The "Else" subject to pilotage passed the pilot's boarding position without taking a sea pilot on board and collided from the outside into the closed gate of the new north lock. The bow bored into the metal construction and the ship was stuck for about six hours.
For more information about this accident see related content below (articles).

Electronic warfare in the Baltic Sea is escalating rapidly, with GPS and AIS disruptions posing growing risks to maritime navigation. Russia’s hybrid strategy is targeting both safety and stability in one of Europe’s most critical shipping regions. Pilots and crews now face a new reality: navigating under threat.

In Novorossiysk (Russia, Black Sea), a marine pilot died during a pilot transfer and an investigation has been launched. The incident occurred on the evening of 14 March at about 21:40.

IMPA is conducting a study to gain significant insights into the current and potential use of "remote piloting" on conventional ships as well as those that may be remotely operated or navigated by autonomous software in the future.

Article and pictures by Captain W J M Hargreaves, Retired Southampton Pilot

Charleston Harbor pilots play crucial role in safely navigating ships to port