Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1894-10-03
SAN DIEGO'S GIRL PILOT.
Only Twenty Years old and Able to Bring
in the Biggest ships.

in the Biggest ships.
Miss Elizabeth Polhemus of San Diego,
Cal, a 2O-yearold lass, Wishing to earn
her own living and having q fondness for
the sea, has been qualifying herself as a
pilot for ocean vessels entering San Diego
harbor. In eight months she expects to
pass the examination required by the
state board of pilot commissioners and re-
celVe her certificate as q nrSt-claSS pilot.
Miss Polhemus is the only woman in
the country, so old sea captains say,
who now attempts to guide great ships
into q harbor. OF course, until she re-
celveS pilots certificate, Miss Polhemus
guides the vessels under the eye of a vet
eran pilot who stands beside her on the
quarterback. This, however, is a 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 young
woman's knowledge Of handling a ship,
and of the reefs, shoals, currents and air
currents of San Diego harbor that the
old 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 a 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
X,
of big merchant ships and now holds an
important harbOr position at San Diego.
She has a kind of hereditary instinct for
! plotting. When in her teens she could
handle an S0-foot schooner in stiff
breeze almost as well 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 a half
| gale from the SOu'e east. q 3OO0tOn 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 Ianinga 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 S
! eyes were open to the fact that unless
| speedy action was taken the ship would
be lost. AT the girls order all hands
were put to shortening sail. She stood
by the wheel and soon had the ship on
another course, although the situation
| was so grave that she had to wear ship
under most trying conditions in order to
! get 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 pilots
certificate, her fees for bringing in a yes
sci will be 50 per foot on the draft of q
vessel and 4 cents per ton. A 3000-ton
| ship drawing 20 feet would pay the pilot
$500. The pilots have lookot station
at Point Iona, and, unless a vessel is
expected during the night, their trim
schooners can lie in their berths inside
the point and put 10 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.