The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1894-11-23
SAN DIEGO'S GIRL PILOT.

Only Twenty Years Old and Able to Bling
In the Biggest Ships.
81 Miss Elizabeth POlhemus of San Diego
Cal, a 2O-year-old lass, wishing to earn
her own living and having a fondness for
the sea, has been qualifying herself as
Moi Tor ocean vessels entering San Diego
hArbor. IN EIGHT months she expects to
pAss the examination required by the
sleIe 10ard o. pilot commissioners and re-
s ceiVe nef certNlelte as "a first-class pilot
Miss POIterhns ssis the only woman in
the country, no old sci, captains say,
who now attempts to guide great ships
into a harbOr. Of course. until she re-
ceives pilots certificate, Miss Polhemus
guides the vessels under the eye Of Il vet
eran pilot who stands beside her on the
quarterback. This, however, is Il mat
ter OF form, as insurance companies de-
mand certified pilot, and the Old pilot
accompanies the girl simply to comply
with the rules. So thorough is the younr
Woman's knowledge of handling a shin
and of the reefs, shoals, currents and air
currents Of San Diego harbor that the
oid pilots who have instructed her in
this difficult work seldom have a word to
say in criticism Of her management,
and for six months it has not been neces-
sary to change one of her orders when
bringing ship into port.
:. All her life this young woman has
lived by the sea. Her father is a GAL
liant old sea dog. who fought for the
flag, and has sailed all seas as master
of big merchant ships and now holds an
important harbor position at San Diego.
She has kind of hereditary instinct for
plotting. When in her teens she could
handle an SO-foot schooner in stiff
breeze almost as we'll as a veteran sail
ing master. The old pilots are proud
OF their feminine protege, because of her
marked skill, and also because of her
courage and GOODNESS in emergencies which
have called for a prompt display of
steady. nerves.
One summer afternoon during half
gale from the soueast, Il 30OO-ton collier
hove in sight off Point Iona, and, in
the masters eagerness to make port that
afternoon, he ran in too close before
taking pilot, and found himself being
forced upon Zaninga shoal off the har-
Dor mouth. Miss Polhemus was the only
available pilot at that moment She was
put aboard the collier and gave the cap
tain a dressing down in Queens English
because of his carelssness. The captain
eyes were open to the fact that unless
speedy action was taken the ship would
be lost. At the girls order all hands
We're put to shortening sail. She stood
by the wheel and soon had the ship on
announcer course, although the situa ton
was so grave that she had to wear ship
under most trying conditions in order to
get an otfing until the ocean subsidized and
the harbor could be entered in safety.
The girl skipper amazed the grateful
captain. She gave the bluff old English
man some new ideas concerning the ca
pacity of an American girl.
When Miss Polhemus gets her pilot S
certificate, her fees for bringing in Il YES
sci will be IS per foot Oh the draft of a
vessel and cents per ton. A 3OOO-ton
ship drawing 20 feet would pay the pilot
1920. The pilots have Il lookot station
expected during the night, their trim
schooners can lie in their berths inside
the point and put to sea only when a
vessel is sighted. 1t is not necessary
for them to cruise up and down the coast,
as do the New York pilots.