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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: k182 on Tuesday 30 August 16 14:01 BST (UK)

Title: Pilot.
Post by: k182 on Tuesday 30 August 16 14:01 BST (UK)
Hello everyone.

I have just found a marriage record and it says that her father was a pilot i didn't think they had pilots in 1887 Ireland. How can i find out more about it.

Kay
Title: Re: Pilot.
Post by: ScouseBoy on Tuesday 30 August 16 14:04 BST (UK)
Possibly a River Pilot.  They have them on the River Mersey.

Pilot of a boat
Title: Re: Pilot.
Post by: Gadget on Tuesday 30 August 16 14:05 BST (UK)
Hi

The old occupations site has Pilot as a ship's steerman:

http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/p.html


Gadget
Title: Re: Pilot.
Post by: k182 on Tuesday 30 August 16 14:16 BST (UK)
Thank you that is interesting.

Kaye.
Title: Re: Pilot.
Post by: c-side on Tuesday 30 August 16 14:19 BST (UK)
It can be a lot more than that implies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_pilot

Title: Re: Pilot.
Post by: t mo on Tuesday 30 August 16 14:22 BST (UK)
to add a ships pilot is  a qualified person who knows the river or sea in his area especially if sandbanks and narrow river channels prevail it takes years of experience to know how the rivers behave with shifting sandbanks and channels move at different times , see watermen and lightermen section further down the page or google search river pilots .
regards
trevor
ps others beat me to it hey ho
Title: Re: Pilot.
Post by: k182 on Tuesday 30 August 16 14:26 BST (UK)
Thank you again have read it.

Kaye.
Title: Re: Pilot.
Post by: KGarrad on Tuesday 30 August 16 16:05 BST (UK)
Where did the wedding take place?

Various districts have Pilot's records ;D
Title: Re: Pilot.
Post by: Andrew Tarr on Tuesday 30 August 16 17:32 BST (UK)
Just to add my bit - ship captains commonly hand over navigation to a pilot when entering a tricky area such as a tidal estuary, where the channel is always changing.  The pilot joins the ship from a cutter at a recognised spot where the channel meets the open sea.  If the ship gets into difficulty or runs aground, the pilot takes the flak as the appointed expert - there have been many cases of that in the past.  Especially tricky with sailing ships (plenty of those in the 1880s) as they were much more at the mercy of tide and wind.

Less essential these days with aids like sonar for judging depth of water.
Title: Re: Pilot.
Post by: Gadget on Tuesday 30 August 16 17:42 BST (UK)
Still used regularly at Tynemouth. I've got lots of photos of them guiding the larger vessels in through the mouth of the Tyne and down to the terminal.  It's fascinating just watching them.

Gadget
Title: Re: Pilot.
Post by: c-side on Tuesday 30 August 16 20:41 BST (UK)
Still used at Blyth too, because of all the rocks around the harbour entrance.

Don't know what they did about the Tall Ships yesterday, though, I don't think they've got that many pilots  :)