Pilot.

[k182]

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

[ScouseBoy]

Possibly a River Pilot.  They have them on the River Mersey.

Pilot of a boat

[Gadget]

Hi

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

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


Gadget

[k182]

Thank you that is interesting.

Kaye.

[c-side]

It can be a lot more than that implies

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

[t mo]

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

[k182]

Thank you again have read it.

Kaye.

[KGarrad]

Where did the wedding take place?

Various districts have Pilot's records

[Andrew Tarr]

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.