pilot ship

[derf5585]

I have to reply as to what I saw on one of the Cruise episodes on TV. I watched an episode that showed the pilot coming aboard to pilot the ship. That pilot was in full command of the ship, but at one point the pilot started getting into some trouble due to high winds. The Captain was right there watching and stated he was about to take over control as "apparently" they have the right to do in certain cases. At least that is what they showed on the TV show. I believe it was a Royal Caribbean ship that was being shown at the time.

 

I hope the film crew did not say "We are shooting a pilot"

[Kudos2Fly]

My father is a captain on a Merchant Marine ship and was thinking of becoming a Pilot in Tampa, but was over the age limit. :o Yes it is very hard to become a Pilot for any port.

 

My husband's grad-father was a Pilot for Tampa harbor but got hurt getting off one of the ship. The ship was rocking back and forth due to waves and his head slammed in to the ship and he feel down to the pilot boat. He was in a comma for a 3 months, of course that ended his career, but he did live.

 

That is a very dangerous job. My father just talked about one of the pilots in New York died getting off a ship on to the Pilot boat. They do have there worked cut out for them. My dad has work 37 years in the Maritime industry. He has a lot of stories. ;)

[SteelerCruiser]

Always love watching the Pilot boats.....

[SWACK]

I've watched them many times.. however..

 

Last cruise out of Miami we learned of a sudden death in the family as we were in the channel heading out. My wife was hysterical, so we went down to the purser and told them we had to get off.

 

They were actually considering letting us off with the pilot boat. I don't know if it was my pale face or insurance regs, but they quickly dropped that idea and let us off at the first port. We made it back for the funeral...alive.

[oldrailfan]

The pilot never takes over 'the controls' of the vessel, they are there as a 'local navigation aid' only.

 

Giving verbal instructions and guidance.

 

The Captain always has full command of his or her vessel. Particularly when manouvering into and out of ports, the Captain will be at the controls.

 

Umm, actually the Quartermaster will be at the helm - the Captain (and the pilot while in port) will be where they can best oversee the operation of the ship. It is very rare that the Captain actually "takes the controls."

[av8tr21]

I wonder if any Pilots have lost their footing jumping from the ship to the boat and fallen into the water? Seems like a pretty challenging job with a lot of responsibility. I say they deserve $400,000+ per year....

[goattyer65]

We took the Behind the fun tour on the inspiration April 2011. We had the same misconception that the pilot takes control of the vessel during critical approaches to the dock. The Captain was adamant that at no time is anyone but he, or his officers, are in control of Vessel. This makes sense since a pilot would have to be proficient in all ships he controls. The pilot gives pertinent information to the Captain regarding the conditions of the approach and departure of the vessel to the particular port in which the ship is docking.

[k2excursion]

Boy, you learn something new everyday! Now, I'm going to pay more attention to the pilot boat. As I was reading this thinking, how and when would they get off the ship. But then I read Machs post and he said it could be several miles out to sea. I just always quit paying attention when we get out of the port area, assuming now we're in open waters nothing to see - well, I going to pay attention, for now on. About how long does it take to get 8-20 miles out to sea?

 

If you ever get to sail out of New Orleans, the pilot will not be getting off the boat until you clear the Mississippi, which takes around 8 hours. At around 12:15am, I wandered up top and just took a peak over the edge of the ship, and was surprised to see the pilot boat picking up the pilot. From some ports, the pilots seem to be on for less than 15 minutes, but in & out of New Orleans is a big job.

[RuthlessBoss]

Unless I read the article wrong, two pilots had to put their thinking caps on and knowledge to work. There were 7, yes 7 ships in Nassau:eek:. Never squeezed that many in before, they were "sandwiched in". 25,000 passengers in Nassau:eek: Some were diverted there instead of going to Cozumel.

[sparks1093]

I suppose the captain never sleeps then?

 

Being Captain of a ship is unlike any other job in the world- he is 100% accountable for his ship from navigation to the engine room to deck operations, whether he is on the bridge or not (and in the Navy he's accountable even if he is off the ship on leave). Skippers do sleep but they are often awoken several times during the night if the need arises (probably not as frequently on a cruise ship but when the ship is at sea they are definitely on the job 24/7).

 

I wonder if any Pilots have lost their footing jumping from the ship to the boat and fallen into the water? Seems like a pretty challenging job with a lot of responsibility. I say they deserve $400,000+ per year....

 

Go back and read post 52.

[nanuak]

Very interesting thread. I am going to pay more attention to the pilot boat this year :)

[rtw68]

Here's a video I shot in Freeport this past January.

 

Just happened to be up early enough and see the boat coming in from our balcony on Fantasy :D

 

[hlb76]

Great action shots everyone!!! I will have to try to get some for myself next time I get to cruise!!!

[cruisecruisecruise2011]

Psssst ... The Captain does not bring the ship into or out of the ports ... well most of them that is. I know Grand Turk there is no Harbor Pilot.

The Harbor Pilots know the waterways better then the Captain does so the HP boards the ship and guides her on into port. The same for leaving ports. The HP gets on board at the pier and then guides the ships out to sea.

When we were in Nassau the HP did a 180 right before docking .. now that was awesome to watch. He then went into reverse and backing her on in.

Looking down from our balcony. The POM Harbor Pilot disembarking Carnival Valor as we left port.

 

Where did you get that info?

 

The Captian does bring it into port.The HB just tells them to watch out for that rock,or the wind or current gets strong here,ect.

 

Do you really think these pilots train for hundreds of hours on how to manuever and steer every ship that comes into port?:rolleyes:

Or how about that 180 degree move?

[elcuchio24]

Where did you get that info?

 

The Captian does bring it into port.The HB just tells them to watch out for that rock,or the wind or current gets strong here,ect.

 

Do you really think these pilots train for hundreds of hours on how to manuever and steer every ship that comes into port?:rolleyes:

Or how about that 180 degree move?

 

So does the captain of an air craft carrier steer the ship all the time? Must get tiring.;):rolleyes:

[LemurCat]

So does the captain of an air craft carrier steer the ship all the time? Must get tiring.;):rolleyes:

 

LOL.

 

Captains rarely "steer" their own ships. They give the orders, approve the course, and are responsible for their crew beneath them. But the vision of the captain standing at the wheel (or in this case the joystick) is pure romantic drivel. Even during the age of fighting sail, the actual wheel was handled by a timoneer or warrant officer while the captain hung out on the quarter deck or worked on his account books or plotted course with the sailing master.

[elcuchio24]

LOL.

 

Captains rarely "steer" their own ships. They give the orders, approve the course, and are responsible for their crew beneath them. But the vision of the captain standing at the wheel (or in this case the joystick) is pure romantic drivel. Even during the age of fighting sail, the actual wheel was handled by a timoneer or warrant officer while the captain hung out on the quarter deck or worked on his account books or plotted course with the sailing master.

 

Just guessing here, but I'd wager you're 1000% correct.

[elcuchio24]

Where did you get that info?

 

The Captian does bring it into port.The HB just tells them to watch out for that rock,or the wind or current gets strong here,ect.

 

Do you really think these pilots train for hundreds of hours on how to manuever and steer every ship that comes into port?:rolleyes:

Or how about that 180 degree move?

 

Umm, yep. I'd say that's exactly what they do. Exactly.

[LemurCat]

Umm, yep. I'd say that's exactly what they do. Exactly.

 

Their training is based on knowing how much draft a ship has, what the tidal conditions are, and the underwater topography of their particular harbor. Do they train for *every single ship* individualy? No. But they know how all ships with 18 feet of draft should manuever during an regular high tide.

[sparks1093]

Umm, yep. I'd say that's exactly what they do. Exactly.

 

They leave the actual ship handling to the ship's crew who are proficeint with their own ship (and every ship that I've been on they put the best people on the bridge when entering and leaving port).

[MrSidewayz]

LOL.

 

Captains rarely "steer" their own ships. They give the orders, approve the course, and are responsible for their crew beneath them. But the vision of the captain standing at the wheel (or in this case the joystick) is pure romantic drivel. Even during the age of fighting sail, the actual wheel was handled by a timoneer or warrant officer while the captain hung out on the quarter deck or worked on his account books or plotted course with the sailing master.

 

 

This is true, to an extent. Steering, while out to sea is done by the Quartermaster at the helm.

 

But manouvering (docking, undocking) into and out of ports is done, hands on, by the Captain... under guidance from the Pilot.

 

Also usually, the Captain spends very little time on the Bridge, only on approach and departure to/from ports.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_pilot

[elcuchio24]

This is true, to an extent. Steering, while out to sea is done by the Quartermaster at the helm.

 

But manouvering (docking, undocking) into and out of ports is done, hands on, by the Captain... under guidance from the Pilot.

 

Also usually, the Captain spends very little time on the Bridge, only on approach and departure to/from ports.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_pilot

 

Oh boy, here we go with the wikipedia links.....y'all have a swell day now, I'll just be on my way!;)

[derf5585]

Oh boy, here we go with the wikipedia links.....y'all have a swell day now, I'll just be on my way!;)

 

And what is wrong with Wikipedia?

[LemurCat]

And what is wrong with Wikipedia?

 

Any idiot can go in and insert wrongful information. It's not a reference source, it's the product of a bunch of people wanting to push their version of the facts as the "right" version.

 

It's only as good as the people creating in the pages, and 99% of the time, that qualifies as worthless, inaccurate, or highly debatable.

[LemurCat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_pilot

 

Wikipedia isn't worth the bandwidth used to edit the information.

 

Unless you're actually a pilot, know a pilot, or can site these facts from a primary souce, you can not decide what it "truth" or isn't.

 

And if you *are* going to go the Wikipedia route, make sure the page doesn't clearly say "CITATIONS NEEDED" at the top of it ....