The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-06-03
DBBP-WATER PILOTS.
The Lively Little SChOonefS and Their
Work.
After Five Years Apprenticeship the
"Cubs'' Rise to Positions as
Licensed Harbor Guides.

The announcement that the assocla-
ton Of Sandy Hook pilots viii put INTO
commission the first steamship built eX-
clusively for pilot service about May
LIST points to a new era in the plctur-
esque business Of guiding ocean vessels
into port. The new steamer will un-
doubtedly be followed by others, ana SO
Will bring about the gradual dispersion
of what has been for many years the
most interesting group of vessels that go
to make up the varied life of the great
harbors. Many land lubber has Won
dered at the lively little schooners'
trim-rigged and stoutly built, almost
too small for going work, ana nav
ing too much an air Of business for
mere pleasure craft. They darted hltnef
and thither almost like the gulls that
sometimes raced beside them, each one
displaying some number in black hg-
ures on its mainsail. and thousands OF
Americans returning from foreign
travel have felt a thrill of pleasure at
sighting these bold little sea birds per
haps $50 miles from the coast welcom-
ing them as the first sign of land, and
feeling that with the pilot on board
they Dire c4lllOSt AACAiAC oSN~4AAs
here. as elsewhere, time brings changes
and the old order of things is even now
passing away It is probable that the
beginning of the twentieth century viii
see the last of the sail pilot boats
around which so many associations of
exciting and heroic adventures have &C
cumulated during the past life of Amer
lean commerce.
The struggle to replace the sail pilot
boats by steam craft has been a long
and somewhat bitter one, but the vic
tory of steam is assured by the capt.
ulation of the Sandy Hook pilots, who
have always been its most formidable
antagonists. Almost every season Tor
the past twenty years somebody mas
suggested the building Of steam pilot
boat and once or twice attempts have
been made to utilize ordinary tugs for
this purpose. But these conservative
sea dogs. with the Unborn scorn of old
fashioned sailors for steam craft, have
always fought the proposition tooth ana
nail, either through their commission
ers. by refusing to license the steam
boats, or else by a formidable system
of boycott. The mere suggestion of a
steamers guiding the great ocean liners
into port is enough to make some OF
these departed water guides turn in
their graves, but they were quiet men
in life, and are not likely to make
trouble now.
In spite of changes pending or al
ready arrived, the vocation of harbor
pilot remains unique, wholly unlike any
other calling In the direct control
which its followers exercise, the manner
in which work is allotted to each one
and the system of apprenticeship, it
more closely resembles the mediaeVal
guilds than any modern trade or pro-
fession. In spite of the many restf1e-
tions with which law has hedged about
the genteel professions, it is easier TO
become a lawyer or a physician than TO
secure the privilege of plotting an
ocean vessel into port. There is no
school or college that can train man
to be a pilot and turn him out at the
end of a two-years' course armed with
a diploma and ready TO practice. The
pilots diploma must be won by nara
work. exposure to. all kinds OF rougn
weather. and an intimate acquaintance
with all the rips CUTS and bars
for 10 miles along the coast, and ad-
mission to the craft is so restricted that
the number of pilots never varies mucn.
It is usually about $50 for Sandy Hook.
For the other ports the number is con-
siderablv less Only enough men are
admitted to take the places of those
who drop out on account of death or
old age. so that it is difficult matter
for a youngster to get even the oppor-
tunity of undergoing the hardships of
the pilots apprentice.
The would-be pilot begins his train
ing usually at the age of sixteen or
eighteen. though frequently older men,
who have been for years before the
mast or in some allied seagoing trade
take UP the pilots calling. AS an APP
prentice he is put on pilot boat, where
he works as sculiion and man of ali
work, picks up what information he can
about tides, shoals, and channels, and
learns not to fear the sea in its angriest
moods. He helps to row the pilot to
and from vessels in a little yawl when
waves are running mountains, and
grows accustomed to risking his life
every day with the nonchalance of the
men older in the business.
After two years of this kind of work
the cub becomes a boatkeeper and is
entrusted with the charge of the boat
when she is manned" Curiously
enough a pilot boat is said to be man
ned when there are no pilots on board
The boatkeeper must serve for three
years on one boat. If he leaves without
permission from the governing board
or is discharged for any good reason he
loses the benefit of the time he has
served and must put in three years
more on another boat. If he passes
safely through this five-year period he
comes up for examination as to his fit
ness to become a pilot. This examina-