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A 'harbour pilot' guides ships through the narrow, shallow and dangerous coastal waters between a harbour and the open sea.
A highly coveted and potentially dangerous position, a pilot is a master mariner with many years of experience in the harbour that they are licensed to operate in.
Most harbours require vessels of a certain size to take on a pilot, at which point the pilot effectively controls the movements of that ship. Legally the master remains in command of the ship. The pilot is an adviser only.
Normally the pilot joins an incoming ship at sea via a fast pilot boat and climbs a swaying rope ladder sometimes up 40 feet to the deck of the largest container and tanker ships. With outgoing vessels, a pilot boat returns the pilot to land after the ship has successfully negotiated coastal waters. For large ships such as container vessels, the pilot may also arrive by helicopter.^[1]
Pilots specifically use the pilotage techniques relying on nearby visual reference points and local knowledge of tides, swells, currents, depths and shoals that might not be readily identifiable on the nautical charts without first hand experience in the harbor in question.
Due to their size and mass, most large ships are very difficult to manoeuvre; the stopping distance of a supertanker is typically measured in miles and even a slight error in judgement can cause significant damage.

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See also

References

External links

See also

★ Bar pilot

★ Pilotage

References

1. Helicopter Harbor Pilot Shuttle (example from the 'Arctic Air Service' website. Retrieved 2007-08-20.)

External links

★ Corporation of Lower St Lawrence Pilots

★ American Pilots Association

★ Atlantic Pilotage Authority

★ Australian Marine Pilots Association

★ Biscayne Bay Pilots

★ Boston Pilot Association

★ Columbia River Pilots

★ Columbia River Bar Pilots

★ European Maritime Pilots Association

★ Honolulu Pilots

★ Houston Pilots

★ International Maritime Pilots Association

★ Association of Maryland Pilots

★ Northeast Marine Pilots

★ Norwegian Pilots

★ Puget Sound Pilots

★ Sandy Hook Pilots

★ San Francisco Bar Pilots

★ Savannah Pilots Association

★ Western Great Lakes Pilots