HARBOR PILOTS. And Boats. In this case, specifically: Pilot Boats and Harbor Tugs. Every harbor has its own "jurisdiction" over large ships entering the port. Pilotage is mandatory. When you read about your port fees, know that pilotage fees are usually paid by the cruise line, and will be a part of the calculated port fees and costs. Almost all of them employ Harbor Pilots; specially trained and (purportedly) intimately familiar with the waters in question. Having observed, read, and watch a few Smithsonian special publications, I have learned that there can sometimes be tensions between the harbor pilots (who know the waters and traffic) and ship captains (who know their ship and its capabilities). But it is an extremely rare occurrence that the port doesn't put a Harbor Pilot aboard, to guide the ship in - and then again to guide it out on departure. In certain cases (e.g., the glacier bays in Alaska) the pilot may not board, but the boat will serve as an escort.
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| Harbor Pilot Boat - Port of Kusadasi, Turkey - Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
AS CRUISERS, we tend to see the "finished product," which is designed to give us a topnotch, fun vacation experience. There are many "behind-the-scenes" activities that I believe we take for granted. Perhaps one of the biggest of those activities involves pilotage, in the many ports around the world. Many cruisers never even see the pilot boats approaching and leaving the ship, and in some cases, escorting it, as it sails in and out of port. They may or may not notice the harbor tugs hovering around the ship as it enters and leaves a port. Even those who do probably don't appreciate the entire significance of what they do. Ironically, when we hear the word "pilot," most of us probably think about airplane pilots. But there were pilots long before there were airplanes. The word, according to Wikipedia, comes originally from the root Greek word that means something akin to an "oar." Every port has hazards (often not visible), currents, depths, and traffic. The harbor pilots are trained to know those port details, and to maneuver ships of all sizes and types in and out of the harbors. In virtually every situation (including cruise ships, commercial vessels, and even military ships), vessels of a certain size are required to be guided by an onboard harbor pilot.
The original pilot boats were sailing vessels (usually multi-sail), approaching sailing ships
I RECENTLY watched a Smithsonian TV production on cruise ships, and learned, to my mild surprise, that ultimately, the ship's Captain has final authority over the ship (including authority to override the pilot), even when a licensed pilot is on board. This is partly because the ship's Captain remains legally responsible for the ship, even with a local harbor pilot on board. The harbor pilot does not normally operate the ship (though they can - but only with the permission of the ship's Captain). These people are all human, and there are certainly going to be times of disagreement and even friction between them. But let's hope that doesn't happen often, and that the local pilot is not only knowledgeable of the harbor conditions, but also cognizant of the fact that each ship is unique and may have things about it that will apply differently than "the way we always do it." Ultimately, the pilot needs to be familiar with a large number of sizes and types of ship.
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| Harbor Pilot - Prince William Sound, Alaska - Copyright Andy Richards 2010 |
THE HARBOR pilots who board the ships to guide them in and out of the ports are members of a vocation that is among the most dangerous in the world. According to Business Insider.com, though they are among the world's highest paid employees, there is a 1 in 20 chance of death for them during the very dangerous process of boarding and exiting the ship while at sea. The same article, however, notes that the average salary for a pilot in the Port of Los Angeles, however, exceeds $400,000. If that's any solace to the pilots. Like many people, most of them love their jobs and take the danger element as just part of the adventure. Training involves a multi-year apprenticeship even after obtaining the education necessary to join the ranks of pilotage.
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| Harbor Pilot Boat following our Celebrity Apex ship into San Juan Harbor - Copyright Andy Richards 2024 |
I AM not really qualified to give a learned discourse on piloting a ship. I will make some (amateur) comments, but in conducting some online research I watched a few YouTube videos and this one was probably the best and most informative. I urge you to take a few minutes and watch it, as it will put much of what I cover here in perspective. If you cruise, or if you just love maritime stuff, these videos are all pretty fascinating. After you have watched some of the video(s), think about this: The original pilot boats were sailing vessels (usually multi-sail), approaching sailing ships!
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| National Park Service - Glacier Bay NP, Alaska - Copyright Andy Richards 2010 |
OVER THE years that I have cruised, I have been fascinated with the Harbor Pilots, and particularly their transit on and off of our cruise ships. I am often on deck when they come out to the cruise ship and board it, and again often as they leave the cruise ship having completed their piloting "mission." I have observed mostly small craft operated by the Harbor Pilots. But in South Africa, we watched them board and disembark by helicopter. I have also observed Harbor Tugs working with cruise ships in very small spaces or very windy conditions.
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| Pilot being taken off Oceania Nautica - Richards Bay, South Africa - Copyright Andy Richards 2023 |
PILOT BOATS are generally small, very fast boats with powerful engines, designed to reach a ship quickly, and to handle rough seas. The most common pilot craft is a monohull designed boat that is specially made for getting a pilot on and off a ship. As you see photos (or the real thing while on a cruise) you will note that every boat has areas that are essentially a flat deck without gunwales rising above, or guard cables or rails. Again, this is to assist with easy boarding and exiting the boat, particularly in rough water conditions when both the boat and the ship being boarded are rocking in the seas. These boats are also stoutly built, to take the bumping and jostling that will inevitably occur when contacting the much larger vessels they serve. Pilot boats are usually painted a bright color (yellow, orange, or green - but not always - the Alaska Inside Passage boat in College Fjord was grey) and marked PILOT in large prominent lettering on the boat.
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| Pilot Boat waiting to pick up Harbor Pilot - Inside Passage, Alaska - Copyright Andy Richards 2010 |
AS I suspected when I got the idea for this post, my research revealed an awful lot I didn't know (and why would you, unless you were a maritime afficionado, or did the research?). I think I knew, generally, that one of the ways ships communicate to other ships and port authorities is by flying certain flags. There is an international code for this, which includes an alphabet of flags. For our purposes here, we only need to be familiar with 2 of them. These nautical flags are relevant for pilotage. They are G and H. The G flag indicates that a pilot is needed, and the H flag indicates that there is a pilot on board.
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| Pilot Flags: "G" (golf) and "H" (hotel) |
THE OTHER common boat we encounter on cruise ships is the Tugboat. These "jack-of-all-trades" working boats are essential in any commercial harbor. They can serve multiple functions including supplying larger ships, moving ships around in tight harbors, bracing and moving ships in very windy conditions, acting as salvage vessels, fire support and even occasional ice-breaking duties. For cruisers, these tugs generally serve for wind maneuvering, docking/undocking, and turning.
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| Harbor Tug conducting backup duties - Istanbul, Turkey - Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
UNLIKE PILOT boats, tugs are not built for speed. They are built for power. They have large screw-propulsion which are driven directly by the engine (unlike many larger vessels whose engines generate electric power to propel the ship). Engines can be exceed 3,000 horsepower. The boats are built with a lower and shallower draft, and wider beam than most other vessels, which gives them the stability to work with ships many times larger and heavier than them. The are also very stoutly built in order to take the brunt of the vessels they are working with bumping and jostling against them.
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| Port of Naples, Italy - Royal Princess Cruise ship - Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
SOMETIMES HARBOR conditions are such that a tug is required. In 2013, as our Royal Princess cruise ship "limped" into Naples where she would dock for repairs, the harbor was full (we were not at our scheduled time to dock), and the turning basin area two small for what was at the time one of the world's largest cruise ships. Because we were off schedule, I was somewhat on alter, and even though we got into port around midnight, I was up and out on the deck with my camera. I watched the tug operations - turning the ship 180 degrees and pushing her up to the pier - with great fascination.
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| Port of Naples, Italy - Royal Princess - Copyright Andy Richards 2023 |
AT THE beginning of the same cruise, we were docked just of the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy (something that is not done anymore). The conditions there were tight, and although I didn't realize why it was there, or what it was doing at the time, I photographed this Venetian Tug standing by as we backed away from the pier, made the turn, and got under way (I don't know this, but it wouldn't surprise me of the tug escorted us all the way out the canal and into deeper waters).
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Royal Princess departing Venice, Italy - Copyright Andy Richards 2023
FOR VACATIONERS, boarding a cruise ship and cruising the world, or playing in the sun in the Caribbean, may seem like a fairly simple endeavor. We buy our tickets, find our way to the departure port, board the ship and have fun. Everything is done for us! The more I cruise and the more curious I get about "happenings" during and around the cruise - especially in the ports - the more I realize how little we appreciate about the complexities of what is being done for us. Things we (I do, at least) take for granted. I will blog about more of these things in the future. It fascinates me. I hope you find it interesting and entertaining too!
 | | Waiting Tug - Walvis Bay, Namibia - Copyright Andy Richards 2023 |
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