History: Lightship (1950)

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.

Let us start a journey back in time. Back to the black and white films of history. The times have changed, but it is good to know what kind of things have changed and where are the roots of pilotage.

For the first time, a large vessel is to cross an ocean autonomously. The giant, developed by Hyundai, could usher in a new era of seafaringt: 300 metres long, 50 metres wide, with space for 180,000 cubic metres of liquid gas.

A handy and simple tool to determine in a minimum time what is really needed as tug assistance, is the Bollard Pull Calculator which calculates in an approximate way the total required tug power for ships in various conditions of wind and current. This tool can be loaded as an app on the smart phone.

Great insights into the work of pilots on Puget Sound

On March 15, 2021, about 1302 local time, the oil tanker Riverside with a crew of 21 and 2 pilots was transiting outbound from the port of Corpus Christi, near Ingleside, Texas, in a loaded condition when the vessel lost propulsion and struck the no. 4 loading dock at the Moda Ingleside Energy Center. 1 No pollution or injuries were reported. Damage to the vessel was estimated at $550,000. The estimated property damage to the facility was $7 million.

When I was a deck officer back in the early nineties I worked on a ship that used to load grain at different ports along the Mississippi river. The name of the ship was Golden Hope, a 600 feet long dry bulk carrier with a 95 feet in beam. An average size vessel for those days' standards.