Evening star., 1940-12-29
BY ,JOhn ]. DAILY.

President Roosevelt was nanQeo
q letter. The man who presented
that letter at the White House is
president of the American Pilots
Association, Capt. John S. Delano.
known wherever sailormen gather
as Capt. Bud" Delano, the man
who controls the destinies of all
those fellows who sail ships in and
out of American ports, ocean-going
traffic, took formal letter to the
chief of all our
armed and naval forces.
Capt. Bud" Delano explained
that his fellow pilots wanted to
place at the Presidents command
the services of all state pilots, from
the youngest to the oldest man at
the helm.
AS one old sea salt to another,
President Roosevelt skipper in
his own right-welcomed to the
White House the man who heads
the most unusual organization Of
its kind in America-the American
Pilots Association.
For a century and a half this
outfit, made up entirely of Ameri-
can-born seafaring men, has given
safe convoy to all the foreign cargo
brought into the ports of America.
There are exactly 33 of these major
ports. The American pilots, and
their ships, form a chain of outer
sentinels, or guardians, who ars the
first to welcome incoming strangers
and the last to bid them godspeed
when they depart from these
shores-the first to say "Howdy''
and the last to say 80 long!"
Today these ports In 20 seaboard
States, forming a horseshoe from
Puget Sound on the Pacific to the
Bay of Fundy on the Atlantic, know
the work of these pilots, unfamiliar
to the average American.
President Is Pilot.
The President of the United
States however, needed no introduc-
ton to the men who offered their
services in the emergency, for he is
pilot, sails his own ship whenever
he has a chance and knew of the
pilots accomplishments back in the
days of the first World War, when
he, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was As
sistant Secretary of the Navy.
In the first World War the Ameri-
can Pilots Association was in
trusted with the secret sailing Or
ders of the Navy. They were the
men who took out of port the great
transports loaded with soldiers bound
for France-took them out and
brought them back.
Battleships, ocean liners, tramp
steamers, oil tankers, square-riggers,
ships of all descriptions, large and
small. they all look alike to the men
who know the coastal and inner
waterways of the United States as
. do no other pilots; for this is their
speciality, their lifework, handed
down to them by the traditions OF
the service.
BY night and by day. in good
weather and bad, blow high or blow
low, there stands at the entrance
to each great port of America a
pilot boat waiting to be of service
to incoming ships-and this service
is something in the nature OF a
sacred duty.
BY day the pilot boat flies the
Blue Peter-a blue rectangular flag
with a white square rampant.
BY night, the pilot boat shows
lights that distinguish it from all
other ships on the sea: A white
light that shines all around the
horizon, and, feet beneath this,
a red light that can be seen from
any point of the compass. That is
the distinguishing mark of the pilot
boat, the sweetest sight that greets
an incoming captains eyes. 1t is ar
ranged so that the pilot boat takes
up position outside the harbor,
where it can be sighted from any
angle by the master of an incoming
vessel. That means the pilot boat
must be far beyond any shoals, away
from jutting points of land that
might obscure vision, and in lanes
Wnere SSd-WedTy Cdptdul llidy
steer directly and be safe on his
way to the pilot boat. That is far
out beyond the last dangerous bar
and the jagged jut of land.
Strange Occurrence.
When contact is made between
the incoming vessel and the pilot
boat then, usually, happens one Of
the strangest occurrences known to
humanity. Ordinarily, the pilot go
ing aboard has never seen the master
of the incoming vessel. Still, this
master greets the man who mounts
the Jacobs ladder as if he were a
brother. More than that, the mas
ter turns over to the pilot entire
control of the navigation of the ship.
Sometimes a ship and its cargo
excluding passengers, might be
worth $4,000, ,o00-and here it is
placed in the safekeeping of total
stranger.
That total stranger comes highly
recommended, however He has
back of him an organization that
points to an unsullied record going
back to the day when the Constitu-
ton was adopted in 1789, and when
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