, 1884-02-21
Pilots and Tugs.

lhe Tacoma NeICS, OF the 13, says:
THE ship Alaska, Captain Pritchard.
arrived in port last night and will
take her usual cargo of Carbon hill
coal. She made the trip from San
Francisco to Cape Flattery in five
days, but there she encountered such
weather as to force her to stand off
the cape for nine days. Last Monday
the tug Goliah hailed her, but wanted
$3.50 to tow her into Port Townsend;
but Captain Pritchard dismissed the
tug, bestowing the soft impeachment
upon the commander of being a pre-
meditated robber. That nine days
layout, however, made him sincerly
regret the dismissal The Alaska
saw the Umatilla fast on the reef, but
could render her no assistance. Cap
tain Pritchard says that the steamer
had some of her sails set when she
went ashore"
Our legislature in its wisdom
abolished the Puget Sound pilot law
two years ago, and since then pilots
and tugs have been making free
booty of incoming commerce, charg-
ing just what they thought would be
paid by strangers rather than run
any risks. This paper at the time
and since then advocated a just sys-
tenn that should by legal enactment
provide that none but capable and
responsible pilots be allowed to offer
their services to incoming vessels, and
that tugs be similarly limited to
graded charges that would be reason
able as well as uniform, A pilot bill
was presented, embodying these fea-
lures and providing that masters of
coasting vessels or those well enough
acquainted with our waters be allow
ed to take out regular licenses at
nominal fees, to act as their own
pilots; yet the whole thing was swept
by the board under the blatant ora
tory of such men as Councilman
Collins, of King county, who pro-
claimed the waters of Puget Sound
Goods highway" That idea en-
bodied policy representing the ex
treme of supposing our waters SO
safe that no special knowledge be-
yond that ordinarily pertaining to
navigation was required to navigate
them. The fact that pilots still
found employment, however, at re-
munerative, and occasionally at exor-
bitant figures, after the repeal of the
law, showed that necessity did ex-
ist, and the fact that irresponsible,
incompetent persons can now impose
upon incoming captains who are
strangers, and can successfully de-
mand exorbitant rates at times, shows
that an onerous tax is being put upon
foreign commerce, which ought to
be borne equally by all.
The doing away with pilots is one
extreme. The other extreme is rep
resented IN the following, taken, we
are sorry to say, from Puget Sound
paper:
at is all very well for greenhorns
to talk concerning wrecks on this
northern coast and Puget Sound in
particular, but we say that the very
best sailor or navigator that ever rig
ged ship or sailed craft is apt to
be at fault after entering the intri-
cate passes of this very peculiar ag-
gregation of land and water, and in
foggy or snowy weather a ship mas
ter ought to be excused for any and
all mistakes"
Such language is grossly unjust
to our noble expanse of water, and
there is not an Oregon paper, with all
their well known bitterness toward
Puget Sound. that would dare make
such assertions.
The tugs now have q combination
by which they charge all alike, but
these charges are enormous.