The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1884-04-18
MARINE MATTERS.
Meeting Of Ship Island Pilot Commission
.sers-Soms Interesting Questions Deter
'fnined-Sestsmsnt Of Marine Disputes
Criticisms, &c.

@@&ste s'SfSsNs
Criticisms, Eic.
= A correspondent of the New Or.
leans STATES, writing from Biloxi
under date OF the 1st, has the fol.
lowing Of interest to our rea,lers !:
4 meeting of the Ship isanSl pi.
Tot eomnsssi enefs was held here
to-day, at which some questions Of
special interestatt MARINE and har.
ter men were considered. =
One Of. these was the settIement
OF a controversy between two of
the SHIP island pilots, Messrs. Be.
landi and James. The facts OH
which the dispute was based are as
follows:
A vessel was discerned In the
ofiing which proved to be the Brit.
ish ship Superior. She was first
seen, as 1t seems, by Capt. Harry
James, who at once made sail in
his schooner to meet her. On the
way QUIZ however; hislskrff OF small
ltat gotadrift by some means or
other. The loss Of the boat was
not observed until the schooner
had proceeded several niles, When
1t was discDverc,tthut the boat was
missing, Capt. james put about to
recover her. Seeing this, Capt.
Bellandi, who was some distance
astern Of James, hurriedly got
ahead OF him.. and PUT off in his
own boat ior the slap. 1t lis said
that hehegiected to hail her, but a
line was thrown out to him from
the ship, which, however, he failed
10 reach ,sor ut least hold on to- aud
did not shcceedin boarding her.
Meantime Capt. James, 'yho was
close at hand, hailed the ship, ask.
ed If pilot was wanted, and on be.
ing answered in the Affirmative,
ran alongside iu his schooner,
sprang aboard the ship, took.
charge of the deck and brought
her into the hasbor, Befiandi
claimedthe pil6mge, on the ground
of having been FIRST alongside and
hindered only by accident from be.
ling first en boafd.ss On the, ether
side Tit was contended. not only
that james was actually first On
board, but the first to hail the ship,
as required by the regulations, and
that tho captain It the ship, IN
having a line thrown to- Bellantli,
had no Official knowledge of him
as pilot. This view OF the case
was sustained by the evidence OF
Fthe captain Of the Superior. New.
ertheless tho commissioners de.
cidcd the case in favor of Bellandi,
taking the ground, as it seems,
that the failure to hail was imipaA
terial.
Another contested case was be.
tween one OF the parties to the for.
Tmer (Bellandi) and another pilot,
Capt. Ably, under the rule that
gives any'pilot who brings d vessel
into port theioption OF taking her
out, if he wishes. Another regula.
tiou requires the vessel to- sail to
give at least twenty -four hours no
'tice by the display OF the proper
flag. At the expiration of this pc.
riod OF tRenty.four hours the pilot
entitled to preference forfeits his
rightit he has not made. his appear.
sance ins tho meantime aud Is not
Frea,Iy to performs the duty, and the
job is open to any competitor. 10
this cass Abbey had brought fln
vessel la. When ready to 60 to
sea, she displayed the proper flag
In the morning of q certain day. In
the course OF the same day, how.
ever, Abbey not having vet appear
ed, Bellandi approached the vessel
and offered his services, which
were accepted, aud he took her ont
to sea. Abbey claimed the pilotage
on the gfousid that tile time for
giving the requisite notice had not
expired, and his right to the ship
had not been forfeited. In this
case the commissioners refused
themselves, declining to render any
decision, OH the ground thai they
had no jurisdiction iii the matter.
aThe action Of the commissioners
in both these eases has been sd.
verely criticised, and seems to give
dissatisfaction to most Of the OK.
perts in such matters, who were
present at the trial. Your CORES.
pendent does not feel competent to
take any part in the controversy,
but lherely'gives YOU the facts, as
stated by those who heard the evi.
deace. rs, s4sss' ~ /.
Another question arose, on which
there seems to be some difference
Of opinion. This was an applica.
ton for d asiicense tas pilot,swhich
was refused on the ground that
there were already enough of them
in commission for the needs of the
port. Sork Q contend that this re.
fusafwas ultra uires on the partlsof
the commissioners; that they HID
mn slsurrotl lns. - ~. ..Aa-L - 4