The life of a Deep Sea Pilot by Roger Francis

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.

Look at Life Vol 01 Transport Pilot Aboard 1963
The story of Britain's pilotage services.

The Maryland Pilots have guided ships to and from Baltimore since the 1700's. They have been chartered as an organization since 1852. This is an edited except from films about the Pilots shot between 1950-1965 for the Port that Built a City and State. The original films are in the archives of the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

A busy morning with all three pilot services on jobs at Point Lonsdale, Victoria, Australia.
Ship spotting at Point Lonsdale and other water activities.

Shifting a vessel from one harbor to other. Easy and safe maneuver. Turn area D=150m. Mooring area 110m.

Two decades ago, candidates were selected for TNPA's accelerated training programme in Rotterdam, which aimed to train a new generation of ship pilots, managers and other maritime professionals.

Description

An entire day caught in a time lapse. Up and down the river twice.
Cool prospective 12000 TEU ship Turing min 2:00. !

Going down the accommodation ladder with neither lifevest nor safety line must have been based on similar, past, successful operations, which may have never been challenged on board. This ‘slippage’ in safety is a pernicious and common phenomenon.

Here's a nice little video of sea trials during the recent unseasonal storm we had last month, which produced some pretty rough conditions at the entrance to Cork Harbour. We managed to capture some nice footage of the Barracuda and Thunder Child II on the day.