The Pilot, History, Necessity, Ability

John M Noble FNI
Managing Director
Noble Marine Services Limited
Southampton, UK

Capt John Noble Noble Marine Services Limited

John Noble has just retired as the Development Director for BMT Ltd. He has been in commercial shipping since 1962. After obtaining his Master Mariners Certificate, John obtained his Nautical Studies BSc from Southampton University in 1977. After a spell as a claims executive with Thomas Miller, The UK P & I Club, John set up the London office of Murray Fenton & Associates Limited in 1980. BMT acquired Murray Fenton in 1999. In 2001, following the acquisition of The Salvage Association, John became Chief Executive Officer until 2005, when BMT Surveys was formed and John was appointed as Divisional CEO. John s practical expertise lies in casualty investigation, dealing with Salvage, Wreck Removal and Oil Pollution having attended some 60 major casualties, including the BRAER and SEA EMPRESS. Pilotage issues were involved in several notable cases.

John is also an experienced expert witness having given evidence in eight jurisdictions at about 100 hearings.

The Pilot - History, Necessity, Ability

By John M Noble FNI
Managing Director, Noble Marine Services Limited

INTRODUCTION

"TMO & PA" is an abbreviation that often appears in the Engine Room Movement Book (Bell Book), certainly on British merchant ships. The abbreviation stands for "To Master s Orders and Pilot s Advice". The key words are ORDERS and ADVICE. I am sure during this seminar that there will be lively discussion on what is meant by these words!
Much of the content of my paper is anecdotal and I hope to set the scene for today s seminar by offering a little food for thought. I have tried not to be too parochial in my approach and I am aware that many delegates will have much more hands on experience than I. Pilotage is a fascinating subject and sometimes extremely emotive. I do not believe in the "us" and "them" philosophy of life, in any enterprise all the cogs of machinery must work together efficiently if success is to be achieved. Pilots are a part of the machinery of shipping commerce.
A Pilot could be defined as somebody with expert knowledge of a location who offers his expertise to the masters of ships wishing to safely pass through the location.

HISTORY

I am no expert on Pilotage history, but a quotation from the 12th Century Laws of Oleron might just set the scene:
"Laws Oleron 12th Century

XXII
If a pilot undertake the conduct of a
vessel, to bring her to St Malo, or any other
port, and fail in his duty therein, so as the
Paper J Noble 3
vessel miscarry by reason of his ignorance in
what he undertook, and the merchants sustain
damage thereby, he shall be obliged to make
full satisfaction for the same, if he hath
wherewithal: and if not, lose his head.

XXIV
And if the Master, or any one of the
merchants, cut off his head, they shall not be
bound to answer for it: but before they do it,
they must be sure he had not the wherewithal
to make satisfaction."

Clearly a buyers market in those days!

I imagine pilotage history goes as far back as the concept of General Average. Each location will have developed its own system of how pilots operated. Initially, most pilots were "freelance" operators vying for business directly. Indeed anybody who has sailed up the Niger delta creeks will have experienced freelance "pilots" first hand when several canoes would approach the ship offering a said to be skilled creek pilot to the Master, who then had to choose. Regular traders developed known favourites as their "own" pilot thereby, reducing the risk of employing a rogue.
Until recently many UK pilots were self employed, in that they were not employees of, say, a port authority. Groups of pilots often combined under a Pilotage Association to form a cartel of a kind, but with the responsibility of ensuring only properly qualified and experienced pilots were offered to masters. Often such associations operated pilot boats and managed duty rosters on behalf of their members. There is no standard or uniform international practice regarding how pilots operate, local history seems to be the most defining way in how the current situation has been reached in a pilotage area!

For example, some ports developed pilots by recruiting candidates straight from school and then provided a full training "in house" before the individual could be left to operate as a pilot within the system. Perhaps the more usual source of pilots is the pool of Master Mariners at sea, but wishing to come ashore. How much longer this pool of pilotage material will remain a reliable source of qualified personnel

remains to be seen. Indeed, I can see the need for training specialist pilots from scratch becoming more usual again. Long gone are the days when a trainee pilot spent months being trained and mentored by senior pilots and for no pay!

If history shows one thing in common, it is that pilots now only ever offer "advice" to Masters. I believe the Panama Canal is the only location where responsibility is transferred.

NECESSITY

Is there a need for pilots?
This question may sound odd, but it must be addressed. A ship under the command of a well qualified master, with competent navigators, who have prepared a detailed and sustainable passage plan, should not require the services of a total stranger, who does not know the ship, its foibles and handling characteristics; or so some might be forgiven for thinking! What can a pilot offer that is not already on board a well found ship?

There are many locations where, in normal circumstances, the pilot does not have a great deal to do. He or she may only provide the last minute berthing advice to the Master in a straight forward approach situation. There are other scenarios where the pilot s arrival is a signal to the bridge crew that they can now switch off. I have heard tales from North Sea pilots where, upon his arrival, the Master and watch keeper left the pilot alone on the bridge to get on with things.

Navigating officers in the Naval service are usually the most highly trained navigators around, for obvious reasons, but they are very much the exception. Many Naval navigators would consider it a failure if they required a pilot s assistance!

A commercial ship is generally designed to be alongside working cargo, or at sea steaming. The gap between "sea and quay", the berth approaches, is where a merchant ship is most vulnerable, if left to her own devices. The rudder will be at less than optimal performance, engine movements can be slow, not to mention the combined affect of other traffic, tides, wind and current. The requirement that such lumbering craft must take tugs and have a pilot on board is common sense. The pilot will have a detailed knowledge of the local tides, channel characteristics, winds and other local considerations such as traffic movement; knowledge that a visiting Master will not have.

The role of a good pilot is to merge into a ship s bridge team as seamlessly as possible and provide expert local advice to assist in a safe manoeuvre. Given the limitations of time and space, I hope I have generated the outline case for the need of a pilot!

ABILITY

When a ship approaches a new port and slows down to embark a pilot, the Master is about to accept advice from a total stranger and rely on the fact that the advice to be offered is sound. It is an act of faith and trust in the pilotage system. Of course the Master and pilot will spend time discussing the pilot card, passage plan and specific local requirements; or will they? I appreciate in many places this interaction does take place; but in many others, the first advice from the pilot will be engine manoeuvring and helm orders: "Full ahead Captain and steady as she goes!" as an example; the Master taking the pilot s ability for granted. The British satirical journal Private Eye sometimes runs a column entitled "Rarely heard Conversations"; perhaps I could submit the following (imaginary) conversation:

"Morning, Pilot; nice to have you aboard! Before we start may I see your pilots licence confirming that you are qualified to advise me on manoeuvring a ship this size and while we are about it, have you ever had any accidents while piloting?"

Most pilots are very able and competent and I think that is shown by how few times Masters have to intervene to reject the advice offered. None the less, pilots ability is increasingly coming under scrutiny. It is hardly surprising that most accidents occur in pilotage waters, or close to them. The risk parameters are much higher when a ship is in shallower water, approaching a channel with concentrated traffic levels and in poor weather. The real issue is how much does a pilot s ability contribute to a reportable incident?

In my experience, unless an incident is serious (SEA EMPRESS) there is a lack of transparency when a pilot s conduct or ability is challenged. Usually, the ship will never hear of the outcome of any internal investigation arising from a pilots conduct if there has been an incident. The shroud of secrecy may be deemed necessary to protect the liability of a pilot s employer, but does it help in the quest for safer ships?

Consideration could be given to an anonymous reporting system such as used by the Nautical Institute.
There is one area where a pilot s ability should be questioned and that is language usage. Many ships now employ multinational crews; often the master or Officer on watch will speak a different language from the wheelman or lookout. Bring on board a pilot who speaks none of the bridge crew languages, there is a recipe for potential disaster. It is important that the pilot has the ability to talk to local tugs and harbour personnel; but he should also be able to make himself understood on board. There can be nothing worse to a Master than a pilot chatting to tugs in a foreign (to the master) language, then ordering ship manoeuvres without explaining what is going on to that Master!

CONCLUDING COMMENTS

History has shown that the role of the pilot is an important contributor to the success of a voyage. The ability of a pilot to impart worthy advice to a Master is a feature of good bridge team work. Too often accidents occur because of poor communication between the pilot and Master.

At least the pilot will keep his head if things do go wrong!