History: River Thames Pilot (1960-1969)

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.

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.

10 years back in time: Port of London Authority Pilot Jon Stafford talks about his work and the challenges of guiding large ships safely into and out of the Port of London.

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Over the course of 4 days this August, I was afforded the opportunity and privilege of riding with the Savannah Bar Pilots for an article I was writing for a major maritime magazine. The pilots are given the responsibility of boarding a vessel in the Atlantic Ocean and safely navigating the vessel up the Tybee Road 9 (a name for the shipping lane that leads into the Savannah River), into the Savannah River, and into the Port of Savannah. The same is done in reverse when a ship is outbound...

This is a short documentary done in the 1980s of San Diego Harbor Pilots. It shows the old pilot boat built in 1914. The boat was donated to the Maritime Museum and provides daily bay rides for the public. The film shows arrival of the cruise ship SS Azure Seas.

The "Navig8 Axinite" is a 184 meter tanker. It is in loaded conditions. two tugs are used. The maneuver consists of backing out using 2 tugs and the ship´s engine, for about 2 and a half ship´s lenghts an then turning to port. After the turn, you can hear me talking with the captain about passing arrangements with an inbound vessel, (another tanker).

'HMM Algeciras' at its second Asian port destination; HPNT in Busan New Port Steadily filling up around Asian ports prior to her transit westbound towards N. Europe

This lady came into port in an excellent day, however when I inspected the pilot ladder prior to board I saw that it was rigged using D-Shackles fastened between the side ropes, transferring all the weight and load of the ladder to the clamps and chokes. Truly an unsuitable method of securing the ladder. Retrieval line was also not above the first spreader
After pulling out the pilot boat, the ship was contacted by VHF and the captain was asked to instruct the crew in the usage of ropes and...