Evening star., 1940-12-29

such laws is that of Massachusetts,,
enacted in 1888, and the latest State
to join the procession is New York.
Operated Since 1894.
Though New York is the last to
take legal recognition of the value
of pilotage, the same State has
enjoyed this service since the year
1894. Earliest authenticated records
show that pilots operated of Sandy
Hook in that year-and they are
still at it, with the Sandy Hook
Pilots Association still going strong.
Their first commission came when
the Assembly of the Colony OF New
York appointed committee of four
men whose duty it was ito attend
constantly at some convenient place
near the Hook with boat to give aid
and assistance to vessels bound for
this port"
Since Colonial days the American
pilots have been on the job-flrst
at Sandy Hook, later down Chesa-
peake Bay, where they brought the
ships into Hampton Roads, out at
the Golden Gate. where the traf-
fic came from the Orient TO San
Francisco, Seattle, Wash; Portland,
Greg, all through the great Gulf
ports, at Pensacola, Jacksonville.
clear on up to Boston Lightship
and Portland, Me.
On duty at all these ports and
others, constantly, day and night,
the pilots know the sea, and the sea
knows the pilots. Sailormen pay
them tribute. They have figured in
many rescues, have saved many
lives and much property-and bill
is never rendered for salvage. In
all ports these men are looked upon
as the good right arm of Uncle
Sam" Even the United States Navy
calls on them to bring its big bat
tleships in and out of port, and
many private fleets, even though
their officials and captains pos
sess masters licenses. hire these
bar pilots as safeguard against
the loss of life and property and
against loss and delay.
Signaling as An Art.
A grand old tradition 1t rs, as
Capt. Bud Delano outlines 1t, that
goes back to the days of sail, before
steam was even heard Of, when pilots
in their able and sturdy little sail
cutters went out in the ocean deep
to meet incoming vessels and bring
them to safe harbor. Those were
the days when signaling was an art
of its own, when the pilots made
torches of oakum and dipped them
in kerosene. lit them and made
flares that could be seen at night as
a welcome beacon to some captain
who needed help. Those old oakum
torches were waved aloft every
quarter Of an hour. Today, every
I 15-minutes the pilot ships at Uncle
Sans harbors throw on the big
electromatic arc lights that sweep
the harbor-and points far outside.
Only relic of the olden days is the
blue peter that still flies by day.
This, then, is the saga Of the bar
pilot-the man who goes out beyond
the last dangerous bar on an Ameri-
can coast and brings in a vessel. He
may be working off Hampton bar,
or off Columbia River bar, known
as the graveyard of the American
seacoast. In gales whenever a
vessel is unfortunate enough to
strike that bar. 1t means the end
total loss of the ship and often of
all hands on board.
Wherever the post of duty it
makes no difference. The pilots
are there with the helping hand
all good, true, loyal members of the
American Pilots Association, pre-
sided over by Capt. Bud Delano,
a Baltimorean. The pilots elected
him, the youngest man ever to serve
as head of their organization. He
comes by it naturally, too. for he
has been aboard ship ever since he
was 18 years of age. When he got
his first pair of long pants he was
made an apprentice in the Maryland
Pilots Association. Six years later
he was full-fledged pilot. A
quarter of century later he was
elected president. Then, in 1888,
IN the historic port of Boston, he
was made president of the organi-
zation that encompasses them all
the American Pilots Association.
Two years later he got it again, and
again two years after that-and two
years more-so that now 1t begins
to look as if Capt Bud is there
for life, chief guardian of American
shipping along 5000 miles of rugged
seacoast.
Home Life.
Though the captain is mighty
proud of his position and of the
association and all its members, one
love stands out in his life-and that
is his home where he lives with
his gracious wife and daughter. In
Baltimore, all good seafaring men
find that home loaded with real
southern hospitality-a the
daughter, Gene, chip off the old
block. Though now a student In
Wellesley, Gene started out to be
a bar pilot-and it was not until
she reached the ripe old age of II.
that she stopped wearing the most
unusual hair ribbonssa girl ever
sported--a red ribbon on the port
side of her shapely head, a green to
starboard
When Gene abandoned the IA
miliar hair ribbons and went tn
school, Capt. Bud Delano had two
new lights out over the front door
OF his home on Cloverhill road in
Baltimore-beacon lights to all in
coming friends. He called them
appropriately enough, harbor lights
These are the lights that shone
rather brightly for him the night
he came back from the White HolIse
after placing at the Presidents
disposal all the grand and elorions
services of the American Pilots'