Unloading of the Rambler from a Royal Navy landing craft
at dockyard after a trip from the Aquarium at the Flatts. (E.S.)
PILOTING
Piloting has been an honorable profession among Bermudians for centuries. Prior to the Hurd surveys in the 1780’s, the only known anchorages for larger vessels were the Roads off St. George’s and inside the Castle Harbour. Because of the location of the reefs around the Island – ten miles or more offshore to the north and less than half a mile on the south - the accepted approach, particularly from North America, was to make for 32° 05’ north latitude some 50-100 miles to the west of the Island and then sail due east, "which will bring you to the Islands passing 4 or 5 miles clear of the SW breaker, which is the only danger on that side of the Island; and this only a Mile from the Shore." (Capt. Penrose, 1795).
The Southwest Breaker can be seen as the white water lying to the right from Church Bay at some distance from the shore. Here it was that the early pilots looked for business. They could keep a watch for an approaching sail from the west from the high cliffs of Southampton and have time to sail out in their small sloops to meet the vessel and navigate it to its destination at the East End.
In 1795 the first three channel pilots were appointed to be King’s Pilots. In 1806, consideration was given to eliminating this small group of specialized pilots and to qualify all Bermuda pilots to bring naval vessels through the reefs. However, nothing further was done until the War of 1812 brought home to the Bermuda legislature just how vital the pilotage system was to the Island’s wellbeing.
In 1812, an Act was passed to insure "that experienced and fit Pilots be appointed ... and that unskilful persons be prevented from undertaking to be Pilots." The mayors of St. George’s and Hamilton were each made responsible, together with two justices of the peace of their town, for nominating a committee of three for each port to examine candidates for pilots. A potential pilot was to have a "good and sufficient boat of not less than eighteen feet by the keel." The word "PILOT" was to be painted in black on the most frequent worn sail and a red flag at least three feet square with either S.G. (for St. George’s) or H (for Hamilton) on it was to be flown.
Unloading of the Rambler from a Royal Navy landing craft
at dockyard after a trip from the Aquarium at the Flatts. (E.S.)
Naval ratings from H.M.S. Fearless carrying
the Rambler across the Keep Yard. (E.S.)
The Rambler in the Boat Loft. (L. Webb)
Former pilot cutter St. George. (L. Webb)
A new pilot Act in 1843 created three Commissioners of Pilotage, with the naval commander-in-chief as the fourth ex officio commissioner, to take the place of the two port committees. The Queen’s (King’s) Pilots, who were responsible for piloting the naval vessels in and out of Bermudian waters, were also brought under the Act. Again, all pilots, unless they were slaves, were required to have a "good and sufficient decked sailing boat of not less than eighteen feet by the keel." Two classes of pilots were recognized – those licensed for "the several ports in these Islands" and those licensed for "the usual channels at the east end of these Islands." Three years later, there were 18 General Pilots, including the Warden of Queen’s Pilots and one Queen’s Pilot, and 12 East End Pilots, including two Queen’s Pilots.
From the time of the Act of 1812, it was established that the first pilot to reach a vessel was entitled to the pilotage fees, even if the master of the vessel refused him. This made piloting almost a competitive sport, as each pilot had his own boat. Although the requirement to own a sailing boat was still included in the 1898 Pilot Act, 6- and 8-oared gigs had largely replaced the sloops as pilot boats before that time. This was because of their greater speed in light winds, when winning the race to the incoming vessel was the only prize.
In search of this prize, the pilot boats ranged further and further from the Island, until it was not uncommon for a steamer from New York or Halifax to have to stop and pick up its pilot 50-100 miles out. The steamer captains were concerned over this situation, as the gigs sailed these distances with little or no navigational equipment, so that the occasional one was lost. Through coercion, they were able to put an end to the practice by the late 1920s. In 1928, a new pilotage act brought the pilots under the Bermuda Board of Trade and marked the start of the government pilot service, which marked its 50th anniversary last year. In that time, all the pilot gigs have vanished from the scene, except for the Rambler, which may be seen in the Boat Loft, and today, the pilots are transported to and from their charges in all-weather diesel-powered boats of a suitable design. The Museum recently acquired a Bermuda-built diesel pilot cutter, the St. George, for its boat collection.