Master of Unknown Waters: The Work of a Maritime Pilot

Every stretch of water around the world is unique, full of its own quirks and hazards. It is impossible to learn them all in enough detail to enable safe navigation. Fortunately, no captain has to do so. Every port, harbour, or navigable stretch of water has a person who knows it inside out. This is the pilot: an expert the ships can call upon to aid them in traversing the territory. Night or day, sun or storm, they arrive on a ship by request, board via a rope or ladder, guide the ship to where it needs to go, then disembark again. A pilot is a key guide and interpreter, critical for maritime safety, whose role often goes unseen despite the courage and skill required for it. They deserve the spotlight as much as any ship’s master. 

Pilot boarding a ship from the pilot boat prior to entering harbour.
Picture by Danny Cornelissen from portpictures.nl

Pilots have been guiding ships through challenging stretches of water since ancient times, with the Old Testament referring to maritime pilots within the text of Ezekiel 271. Ancient pilots were often local fishermen who were sought out by the captain to guide the vessel. One of these was described in 64AD by a Greek-Egyptian merchant travelling to North India, who told of fishermen hired by the king to guide ships up the Narmada River2. During the Middle Ages, pilots began to organise themselves into guilds, which provided pilots with the training and knowledge they would need in their roles under a master and apprentice system3. 

In the UK, in 1514, one of these guilds was given a Royal Charter to become the Corporation of Trinity House in London, overseeing pilotage on the Thames, including regulation and licensing, to enhance safety at sea4. To this day, it still licenses pilots for Northern Europe5, although that role is no longer exclusive to it. 

“Salacia Picking Up A Pilot” painting by Francis Hustwick (1797-1865), image credit: Merseyside Maritime Museum, CC BY-NC.

Various UK pilotage acts in 1808 and 1913 tried to regulate the role, making having a pilot compulsory along the Thames and establishing authority and regulation over pilots respectively6. Finally, the 1987 Pilotage Act devolved control of pilots to harbour authorities, which is still true to this day in the UK. In other countries pilots may either be self-employed, government employees, or employed by the port authority or company7. The law on which body employs a pilot is not standard around the world, but what it takes to become a pilot is often similar wherever one goes. 

It takes a lot of training, skill and qualifications to become a maritime pilot. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO)’s Resolution A.960(23), adopted in 2003, laid out minimal training requirements which include a license from a recognised pilotage authority and training in areas such as ship navigation and handling, instruments, safe embarking and disembarking, buoys and beacons in the area, and more. In total, 28 points are recommended for a pilot’s syllabus8. All pilots must speak English, as that is the standard language of communication at sea and they may need to translate from the local language for the crew. Many pilots have risen from the ranks of senior officers onboard ships9. An example of training for a deep-sea pilot in the North Sea requires experience onboard a ship and completion of the study programme, which includes written exams and a practical voyage over the course of four to eight months, as well as completion of courses on radar navigation10. Those are just the minimums: a true expert will require years of experience on top. 

A fully qualified maritime pilot has a difficult challenge ahead. At any hour of the day, in any weather, the pilot on duty has to go out to the ship which requested them. They do so in a pilot boat; a small, fast, purpose-built vessel designed to get the pilot where they need in any weather11. 

Pilot boat Chinook in the Colombia river.
Nsandel at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CRBP-_CHINOOK_2.jpgA

Once a pilot is onboard a vessel, they take command in guiding the ship through their waters. It is a big responsibility: the pilot’s decisions are often critical to the safe passage of the vessel, and the crew rarely wishes to question their judgement, seeing them as the authority12. A pilot needs not just to be a skilled navigator but have the interpersonal skills needed to communicate with and gain the trust of the crew, especially the ship’s master, who may not be used to taking orders from an outsider13. They may also communicate with the shore crew, providing interpretation if needed. It is a highly complex task, requiring many judgement calls based on the pilot’s intimate knowledge of their waterway, as well as decisions based on weather conditions, ship and people onboard. For example, one pilot noted that a larger ship catches the wind easier, something they have to adjust for14. A pilot must juggle all this in order to keep the ship safe, dealing with multiple inputs which can conflict. At the end of it all, once they successfully guide the vessel, the pilot leaves without much fanfare the way they came, until they are requested by another vessel, at which point the process repeats. Such is the complex dance that keeps the maritime industry going. 

The job is not without significant risks. Pilots have to get on and off large ships in any weather, risking being thrown overboard by pitching waves or dragged under by an enormous cargo tanker’s undertow. The IMO’s Resolution A.1045(27) from 2011 lays out guidelines for pilot transfer, stating pilot hoists are disallowed, and specifying regulations for ropes and ladders, such as requiring them to be sturdy, non-slippery and only 2.2 metres in height15, but even these can be precarious in rough weather or hanging off a large ship.

A pilot being pulled up to a Union-Castle ship, 1965. Such hoists now are disallowed under the IMO’s resolution.
Photo from the National Maritime Museum. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pilot_hoist_on_a_Union-Castle_vessel_(5953655447).jpg

Safety measures such as inspections, easy access and the required equipment must be provided for best safety16. Nevertheless, accidents happen, and pilots falling off ladders is a tragically common occurrence. Just this year (2025), in one such a fall, a pilot sustained severe injuries in Belgium17. Regulations and practice are often two different things, and some occurrences, such as storms and choppy seas, cannot be controlled. Weather was one of the leading causes of pilot falls, according to a 2022 study18, and as it is part of the job to go out in all conditions, it must be considered a risk of the job. 

On top of the potential for injury from ladder falls, pilots also work long, irregular hours, which can lead to fatigue, stress and poor health outcomes, including high rates of cardiovascular disease. The growth of the maritime industry has increased workloads and turnaround times, exacerbating these factors19.  

Piloting has had a slower rate of innovation compared to the rest of the marine industry. Remote piloting - where a pilot guides the ship from onshore - exists, but it is not widely practised due to a lack of clear benefit and thus lack of implementation and development20. Perhaps it may be possible in the future. Until then, pilots must continue to go out and risk themselves to guide ships safely. There is no substitute for their wisdom, their experience, and their knowledge in keeping a ship safe in dangerous waters. They are invaluable to keeping the maritime economy afloat and safe.

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Aydin, Muhammet, et al. “Assessment of human error contribution to maritime pilot transfer operation under HFACS-PV and Slim Approach.” Ocean Engineering, vol. 266, Dec. 2022, p. 112830, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2022.112830.

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Butler, Grant L., et al. “Understanding the Systemic Influences on Maritime Pilot Decision-Making.” Applied Ergonomics, vol. 104, Oct. 2022, p. 103827, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2022.103827.

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Ehlers, Peter. “Maritime Pilotage from the Perspective of the International Law of the Sea.” The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, vol. 39, no. 4, 5 Dec. 2023, pp. 661–684, https://doi.org/10.1163/15718085-bja10159.

EU Maritime Pilotage Study, Report 1995, Commission of the European Communities, Directorate- General for Transport DG VII/D3

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International Maritime Organization, Pilot Transfer Arrangements, Resolution A.1045(27), 2011, wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/knowledgecentre/indexofimoresolutions/documents/a%20-%20assembly/1045(27).pdf

International Maritime Organization, Recommendations on Training and Certification And On Operational Procedures for Maritime Pilots other than Deep-Sea Pilots, Resolution A.960(23), 2003, https://wwwcdn.imo.org/Localresources/En/Knowledgecentre/Indexofimoresolutions/Assemblydocuments/A.960(23).Pdf

Jones, Neil. “Up and Down the Rivers.” Trinity House, 10 Dec. 2018, www.trinityhouse.co.uk/articles/up-and-down-the-rivers.

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Mansson, Joakim Trygg, et al. “Joint Activity in the Maritime Traffic System: Perceptions of Ship Masters, Maritime Pilots, Tug Masters, and Vessel Traffic Service Operators.” Journal of Navigation 70, no. 3 (2017): 547–60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0373463316000758.

Mikkers, M., et al. “Managing Multiple and Conflicting Goals in Dynamic and Complex Situations: Exploring the Practical Field of Maritime Pilots.” Journal of Maritime Research, vol. 9, no. 2, 2012, pp. 13–18. https://www.jmr.unican.es/jmr/article/view/175/170.

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