Dereliction of duty… But saved by a miracle.

 \After working ashore as a marine surveyor for about eight years, I decided to go back to sea. And I was in command of a 5000 DWT a conventional cargo ship. On my first voyage, around the month March 2004, the ship was to load with bagged cargo in all three holds and on deck with teak logs.

Prior to arrival in Yangon, we were well in advance informed that no was cargo lashing material is available in Yangon, and all have to be imported from Singapore. Therefore, the agents in Yangon wanted to know if the ship required any lashing material, and if so, to send them the requisition as soon as possible. We had well over three weeks before the ship got to Yangon, and therefore we sent our lashing material requisition.

 The cargo was loaded at Yangon and there was adequate lashing material to lash and secure the of teak logs which was loaded on deck and hatch tops of the ship. After a peaceful voyage to Mumbai the cargo discharged.    

In June 2004, the vessel sailed on ballast (No cargo onboard) for Yangon. On the way to Yangon, I received the usual email, from the local checking with me if the ship wanted any lashing material because this time the ship was going to be loaded with Hardwood logs. I was given ample to submit the requisition. But I didn’t order any more lashing material even when my chief officer advised me, we should have more of that.  On arrival at Yangon, the agents informed me that the vessel will be loaded with hardwood logs for Haldia in India. The port of Haldia was situated in Hugli (Ganges) river. Weather was bad in Yangon and also in Bay of Bengal due to the presence of well-developed Southwest Monsoon.

When we received the details of the cargo to load, the Chief Officer came and told me that the lashing material we have onboard was insufficient to lash the heavy logs. Last time when the vessel called at Yangon, it was loaded with Teak logs. Teak logs that were very much small in diameter, length and weight compared to hardwood logs. I did not pay attention and did not order for additional lashing material.

When I saw the cargo (Large timber logs) being loaded on deck, I began to tremble. It was too late for ordering any lashing material at that time. As our charterers had very clearly stated that if we need any dunnage or lashing material, we have to give them at least seven days’ notice. Because Yangon was not Singapore or Bombay to find things at hand.

I realized that I was in deep trouble for ignoring the chief officer advise to order more lashing g material.

Cargo was loaded and we used all the material that was available on board for lashing and securing the cargo which was loaded on deck and hatch tops. On the 5^th of July 2004, the vessel sailed from Yangon and completed the river passage in about eight hours.

As soon as the ship came out of the river, we started to experience severe weather. The distance from Yangon to Haldia in India was about 770 nautical miles.

 

My biggest worry was that the moment I alter course to 312 degrees to head Northward, , the  Southwest monsoonal conditions, which was sea, swell and wind would be on the ship’s beam. In order to avoid this, I planned a zig–zag course which would have delayed the ship's arrival at Hugli Pilot station by about twenty-four hours. Our estimated time to be at this course altering position: Maw din point, which was at the entrance to Bassein river, position Lat. 14 degrees and 55 minutes, Longitude 094 degrees and 45 minutes, was 1030 hours on the 6^th of July.

 When the time to alter course was closing in, I went on the bridge, but before that, I prayed and prayed. Asked for pardon from God for my negligence, arrogance and my self-centred attitude due to which reason now the vessel was threatened to face extremely dangerous situation by way of heavy rolling of the vessel on beam sea and swell. In that situation the lashings of deck cargo, which definitely was inadequate, and if the lashings break the vessel would be in an extremely dangerous and in a uncontrollable position. 

Around 1045 hours on the 6^th of July as estimated the vessel was at the previously mentioned position, the Chief Officer also came to navigating bridge and also asked me if he could slowly do the alteration. I asked him to go ahead and do it. He did it very gently i.e., from a course of about 265 degrees to 312 degrees.

 Praise the Lord! It was a miracle, and the vessel started to ride the swell with only minimum rolling.

The vessel was on that course for nearly three days and there was no change in the movement. The weather was unbelievably bad due to well-developed Southwest monsoon. But the ship arrived at Hugli River pilot station and then at the port of Haldia without any problem.

It was a miracle. Thank the Lord Jesus.

However, I did not sleep soundly during the entire voyage. I must have had a short nap of  one hour at a time during the day but was awake throughout the night.

When the pilot boarded at the river to take the vessel to Haldia, I asked him “Mr. Pilot how long will it take to reach lock gates at port of Haldia?” He said “Captain, because your ship is not doing good speed it will be around four hours.” Which means around 1700 hrs on the 9^th of July. Then I told him “Mr. Pilot, I have not slept for about four days now can I go and take some rest?” He said “Yes, please. I will tell the duty officer when to call you.”

I had lunch alone, as the pilots said that they have already had lunch and thereafter I put my head down.  I thought, I must have been dead to the world for about three hours, and I when I awoke my whole body was soaked in sweat. This was all because of my pride and arrogance. I did not want to listen to the Chief Officer and order more lashing material in time.

 

With the help of God, the vessel safely arrived at Haldia.

 

Did I do the right thing…

 

Following my Nautical studies in Ireland and in England, I left London in March 1979 and arrived in Venice where I was scheduled to join the ship. On arrival at Venice Airport, our local agent was there to meet me. After completing arrival formalities, the agent took me to the ship. Prior to boarding the ship, I knew that most of the officers including the captain were Filipinos. It was the first time that I was going to work with them. When I went on board the captain and many other officers were not on board. Therefore, I reported to the Chief Officer. Fortunately for me the Purser was a Sri Lankan. He had a long name, and all officers on board called him Thanam.

Thanam was very happy to have me on board as he was the only Sri Lankan on that ship prior to my joining. He immediately ordered the Chief Cook to prepare dinner for us. Then he showed me my cabin. The ship did not have a Second officer when I joined. The third Officer had been doing the second officer’s duties while the Cadet on board had been doing the third officer's duties.

Therefore, my cabin was vacant and ready. After a few drinks Thanam and I had dinner, and I went to sleep.

In the morning, I went up to see the captain and he was in a bad mood, for some reason, and he was very rude to me. But I remained calm and handed over my appointment letter to him. At that time, he was telling me how superior the Filipino Merchant Navy Officers’ qualifications was whereas the British qualifications were quite low in the order. I immediately understood his attitude and also thought that I was going to have some rough weather, on board, for the next few months.

However, as the time passed, it was not as bad as I thought. Rudolfo T. Nunez, Chief Officer, became friendly with me and was good company, too.

With a full load of cargo on board "Regent Venture" crossed the Suez Canal and entered the Red Sea. The first port of call for discharging was Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. I was used to the style of British and Indian Captains. They were greatly confident in all areas of their job. Unfortunately, I did not see that quality in this captain. He panicked and started to shout at all of us on the bridge when approaching ports. Another thing that I observed was being from the same nationality the Captain and Chief Officer were not on talking terms.

The Chief Officer also had the Master’s license and had commanded vessels prior to joining this company. Because it was his first contract with our Company he had been employed as the Chief Officer.

There were two approaching routes to Jeddah, one from the North and the other from the South. Whichever it was, the approach to Jeddah was a tricky one, especially during night. On that day  around 8.00 p.m. the ship was approaching the port of Jeddah. At my request, the Chief Officer remained on the bridge, but only an observer. The captain asked me what the Chief Officer was doing on bridge after his duty hours. I told him that the Chief Officer had commanded ship’s to Jeddah a few times, so I requested him to be around. He did not ask any further questions!

Thereafter, in their language Captain spoke with the Chief Officer. The ship was on the approach route and the engines were on standby. Suddenly, for no reasons Captain made some course alterations. While doing that it was difficult to plot a good position and suddenly we felt that the ship hit something and listed to Port side (Left side). Immediately the rudder was put to the opposite side and the ship righted and steadied. At this time, I plotted the ship’s position, and it came on the side of a reef. This was confirmed by the Chief Officer’s position. Also, both the positions confirmed that the ship was out of the approach route.

At this moment, the captain panicked, and the Chief Officer took over the maneuvering. Under his instructions, the ship approached the Pilot Boarding Ground, and the Pilot boarded. The time was around 10.00 p.m. The captain informed the Pilot that he suspected that the ship hit a submerged object on the Northern approach route. He further said that it could be a submarine and immediately the Pilot informed the control tower. Possibly the Captain was trying to prove that the ship was always on the safe approach route. It was not true that he went off course and hit a reef. Under panic situations Capt. Moran’s behavior was found to be very unprofessional. The Navy and Police Officers were waiting on the wharf at the time of berthing the ship.

In the meantime, captain refused to accept the position given by the Chief Officer and myself. An inquiry was held during this time and a Senior Naval Officer of Saudi Navy checked the positions on the charts used. After taking down statements from the captain and the Chief Officer they left.

As the cargo was being discharged, it was found that the No. 1 and 2 had water ingress. And there was water to a height of about two meters. Following the detection of water in the holds, the ship was shifted to the anchorage. As the ship was classed with Lloyds Register of Shipping, LR Surveyor for Jeddah boarded the vessel. Following the survey, he advised the damaged cargo to be discharged and the ship to be dry docked for repairs within one month. We also had cargo for Aden. The damaged cargo was discharged into barges at Jeddah anchorage. Temporary repairs were carried out on the Surveyor’s advice. On completion of temporary repairs, the ship sailed for Aden and discharged all remaining cargo.

 

Thereafter the ship proceeded to Bombay for Dry Docking and arrived in Bombay on June 20,1979. After about three days it was dry docked and we were informed that a formal inquiry will be conducted by the Mercantile Marine Department Surveyor in Mumbai and also by the Class Surveyor. Capt. Moran got very anxious following receipt of the news of the formal inquiry. He came to my cabin and sat down on my day bunk and told me "John, I have six children, and I do not want to lose this job. Please help me out in this situation". Then I told him "Sir, I alone cannot do much and we must speak with the Chief officer". He immediately agreed and we had a meeting in the captain’s day room. It was first time he offered a drink to Chief Officer and me.

Whatever had happened in the past, the Chief Officer was with me to help the captain. We discussed our statements and made certain alterations to the entries which were on record.

That night all three of us did not sleep. I had a bright idea to avoid all these confrontations; I made some excuse to sign off prior to the commencement of the inquiry. On the following day, early in the morning, I went out and called a friend of mine and told him to send a cable to our Agents in Mumbai as if it was from home, for me to return home immediately as my father was terribly ill. I informed the captain and the chief officer about my action. Also, I told him that it was not possible to go on lying to surveyors, specially the MMD surveyor. Around 9.00 a.m., the Surveyors boarded the ship with the Senior Superintendent of the Company. While the Surveyors were interviewing the Captain, the Agent brought my message. The message was shown to the Superintendent. He was not happy to let me go but there was nothing much he could do about it. The surveyors did not have much time to question me as my flight was booked for the same evening. I informed my father that I was coming home.

Just before I left the ship the superintendent called me and told me "You are a product of this company, and you must tell me the truth of what happened." I lied to him, and he was very annoyed with me. At the time of leaving the ship, I had this thought that it was my last time with that Company. I was only trying to help my Captain to save his job because of his commitments at home. All the travelling expenses were deducted from my balance wages, and I had little money when I reached home.

Capt. Moran was full of tears, embraced me and thanked me when I met him at the gangway. But inside me I knew that my leaving was not going to do much good to him as there was more than required evidence to prove that the ship had gone off course and have contacted a submerged reef.

My father was there to meet me on my arrival at Colombo airport. They were happy to see me back.

They also asked the question why I had come so suddenly! My father was really sick when I came home as he had extremely high blood pressure. On doctor's advice he was admitted to hospital when he was in hospital. Few days later, he was discharged and brought home.

Once my father was in a position to listen to me, I told him the truth why I had to leave the ship and come home much earlier. He listened to my explanation but did not make any comments. Observing his facial expressions and knowing my father’s way of thinking, I knew he was not in favor of my action. As I have mentioned earlier, he was a very honest and straight forward person. As for him, if  the Master of the ship had made a mistake he must face the consequences and on my part I should have been honest and stood by the Company which provided me with a job to start my career.

 

The Officer and a Gentleman

In the year 1985, I was in Mumbai studying at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Nautical & Engineering College. Although I had a student visa, my wife went on a tourist visa and it was due to expire during the month of May,1985.

In Mumbai, immigration and visa matters were handled by the Special branch of the Police. One day I went there with my wife for the purpose of requesting for an extension.

As usual the place was crowded, and we waited for our turn. We went into the office around 9.00 a.m. and our turn to meet one of the officers came up around 11.00 a.m. I went up to the Officer and began to explain our problem, first of all he did not listen to me and suddenly he got on his feet and shouted at me, “You should know that we cannot extend tourist visa and, you must send your wife back to Sri Lanka and re-apply for visa and come back here” and after saying that, settled back on his seat and called the next person waiting to meet him.

When I turned back, I saw that my wife was in tears because we were put into a very helpless and a very embarrassing position by the Officer concerned.  I consoled her and told her not to worry that this was not the end of the world and that we will look for someone who would help us in this matter. On one side of the Office, there were two separate rooms. At the entrance to one of those rooms, there was a name board, and it showed D.D. Jog, Deputy Commissioner of Police.

I walked up to the entrance and spoke with the police constable who was on guard. I told him that I need to see the D.C.P. He then asked me whether I knew him. I said “Yes” and, I was allowed in.                                          

As I entered, I saw a Police Officer in uniform seated at his table. He was busy studying a file. I stood still and waited for him to look up. He looked up and asked me “Yes, what can I do for you?”. I addressed him as Sir and told him about my purpose of coming to Mumbai and that the exams are due in few months and that I have to get my wife’s visas extended. 

He rang the bell and the same officer who rejected me came to answer the bell. He saluted the D.C.P. and stood to attention. The D.C.P. and told him “This gentleman has his exams coming up and he has no time to waste in this office. You do the needful and extend the visa of his spouse and make sure that he does not have to come back.”

 I thanked the D.C.P. with all my heart and went and met with the Officer concerned.  When I returned to him, he had taken off his Lion’s skin and hung it out. Sheepishly he told me, “Why you had to go to him, I would have done it myself”. Any way the job was done thanks to Mr. Jog and until I left India, I did not have to go that office. However, prior to leaving the Office after obtaining the visas, I went up to the D.C.P. and thanked him. He said to me “You don’t have to thank me; I only did my job.”   

The incident added a page to life’s book of experience. More significantly, it paved way for us to meet an Officer and a Gentleman in the Indian Police Force.

 

Mr. Jog, I salute you!

 

My belief, this was a miracle.

For a brief period of time, I worked for an Australian Shipping Company which was operating in Papua New Guinea. The head Office of the company was in Lae. The ship I commanded was Coaster with a Length Over All of about 87 meters.  All officers and crew were from PNG, and I was the only out sider.

I assumed command of the ship at Townsville. The first port of call of the ship under my command was Lae. Thereafter, the ship sailed around PNG coast and in the East Coast of Australia.

Some of the ports that the vessel called in the PNG, did not have Pilots and tugs etc., Therefore, docking and undocking of the vessel was done by the captain himself. The best part was nobody told me about this until Henry my Chief Officer advised me on this. There was no problem, as professionally I could manage this kind of work. But what I am trying to highlight here is that nothing about this situation was mentioned at the time of my signing on.

Thereafter, the vessel called at the port was Wewak. This was the first port at which I had to do docking and undocking of the ship and everything went on well. I later realized that I was a bit too fast, and I took note of that.

The port thereafter was Vanimo, and it was a difficult maneuver. It was mainly due to the reason the port was located in a very tricky place. The berth had to be approached on a perpendicular direction, and having partly submerged wreck and a shallow patch on the Port side, and with a quite shallow on the Starboard side being the seashore.  

The ship was fitted with a Variable Pitch propeller. When going astern the bow cants to port. So, I dropped the Port anchor when the dock was approximately 50 meters from the bow of the ship and approached with slacking the anchor chain with keeping a control of the head way. When the ship was closer to the dock, the forward back spring was passed and by slacking chain as necessary ship was docked.    

The docking of the ship was without much of a problem.

However, during the second call at the same port, it was on a Sunday, and the vessel was approaching the dock at around 0730 hours. Usually there were men posted on the pier to take the ship’s lines and put on the bollards ashore. But this time, as the ship was approaching the berth, the  Second Officer who was manning the forward stations informed me ‘Captain there is nobody to take our lines’. I could see the situation and, it was low water making the situation more difficult. I knew that I was in trouble. I prayed to the Lord.

We had been watching and there was not a soul on the pier and in the container yard. And there was no chance of turning around!

Suddenly I saw a man wearing a red T-shirt running towards the dock. I knew that my problem was somewhat solved. The man came towards the bow of the vessel and picked up the heaving line and pulled one rope and put the same in the bollard as we wanted. After taking two mooring lines ashore I saw him running towards the after part of the ship. I was terribly busy maneuvering, but with all that, I told the Second Officer, “Eddie, call that man who ran across the yard and picked our lines. I want to give him something.”     

I thought of giving him a cash gift for his help. But to my utter surprise the Second Officer told me that there was no such person. I was so annoyed and said “Eddie, don’t tell me you are blind”.

And, when I checked with the third officer, Thomas who was manning the aft stations at the time of berthing he confirmed what the Second Officer said. No such person. Then who helped us with line?

Finally, the ship was docked without much problem.  

I thanked the Lord (The silent helper) for helping us out of this precarious situation.

 

Seamanship Notes

 

From Seamanship Notes

Seamanship Notes

 

 

 This is a memorable event, and the Glory is to God:    

 

SS

Somewhere in October 1971 I was invited by a friend to join him to go on board a ship berthed in Colombo harbor. I was delighted at the invitation. But I explained to him my problem. He said that he would obtain permission from my mother. He came with his brother, who happened to be the third officer on that ship. My mother  then allowed me to go on board the ship with them. It was great. As the Third Officer, he was living in luxury. We were invited to dinner, but we declined. Therefore, we were served with a hot cup of soup brought in by a steward. I went around the ship, and it was out of this world.

One day when my mother was in a good mood I explained to her about the ship that I visited and

One day when my father was at home, I just mentioned my idea to him. His immediate response was "Don’t talk nonsense". As he was a person of few words, it took another month or so to find out why he said that. I invited home the friend who was an officer on the ship which I visited. At that time, my father was there. He obliged. He came and had lunch with us. It was extremely difficult to convince my parents. They went on saying that I being the eldest in the family, they just cannot even think of sending me to sea, considering the dangers and other activities involved in seafaring.

It was around this time I was informed by one of my uncles that a company in Sri Lanka based in Colombo will be calling applications for Officer Cadets in the Merchant Navy. Few days later, it was advertised in the papers. After a long deliberation, my father agreed to help me with the application. Thereafter I submitted my application.

However, there was a huge doubt about whether or not I will be called for the interview as I didn’t possess the required qualifications. I prayed to God and also attended novenas of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, and other church services, praying and asking for God’s help for me to get this job.

In March of that year, I received a letter from the company calling me for the interview. I did attend the interview, and I was interviewed by a senior captain in the merchant marine. He asked me if had a recent Vision Test report. When I said, No. He wanted me to get one and come back in two days. When I returned with the Vision Test report the captain checked it and was satisfied.

Then he asked for the educational qualifications.  I certainly did not have what he was looking for. Then he handed back my folder containing all my certificates and told me to get the certificate he wanted and to return on the following day. There was no way of getting the certificate because I did not have it.

 I returned home and gave the bad news to my father. He said he anticipated something like that.

That day during the night I prayed and cried to our Father in Heaven asking for his help.

 ON the following day, when I was ready to leave to go back to the shipping company office, my father too came with me. And when in the office my father also went in the room of the captain who interviewed me. For nearly forty minutes they had a discussion and mainly about God. Thereafter, I was selected for the job.

 It took a very long time for me realize it was a Miracle, and a direct act of God.

 

Reminiscing about the old days:

 

My brother and I travelled to school by bus. On this particular day, I had forgotten to take with me  the season tickets or the monthly pass we had to travel by bus to school. I realized this when I was ready to leave school that afternoon. We traveled to school at the same time each day, therefore the bus conductor knew us very well. So, he asked for the monthly pass usually for inspection only on very first day of teach month. As a result of this we traveled by bus and got to school. However, I didn’t have any money with me to pay the return bus fare due to the absence of the monthly pass.

I did not want to ask any help from anyone, and made up my mind, and said to myself, "No, we are walking back home".

At that time, I must have been about eleven years, and my brother was four years younger to me. The distance from the school to our home was about four miles. We walked back home and arrived home only about 30 minutes later than usual time. It was not noticed by my mother and therefore no questions were asked. We were very tired, but everything was fine but not for long. When my father returned from office, he came straight to me and asked me "how did both of you get back home from school today?" I replied "by bus as usual"  he got so angry and caned me very severely. He certainly had known how we got back home!

I have never seen him so angry before and I did not see it till he died. The best part here was comparing the time taken to get home by bus and our walking back the difference was only about 30 minutes. That was a memorable day in my life. Although I was severely punished by my father for lying to him and for making my little brother walk all that distance, I was proud that in a situation like that I did not depend on anyone but made it my way.

 

 I am getting back to my blog after a long time, and this time I hope to post miscellaneous topics. 

Copied from an article in the Guardian to YouTube.

 Details are still emerging about the disaster that happened in the early morning of March 26, 2024, when the Dali, a large cargo ship on its way out of the port of Baltimore, hit a major bridge and caused it to collapse.

The Conversation’s senior politics and democracy editor, Naomi Schalit, spoke with Captain Allan Post, a veteran ship’s officer, about the role a ship pilot plays in bringing a large ship in and out of a harbor. Post, who now directs Marine Education Support and Safety Operations at Texas A&M University at Galveston and is also deputy superintendent of the Texas A&M Maritime Academy, said the disaster was “absolutely” every crew member’s nightmare.

What was your first thought when you heard about the accident?

Post: My first thought was, thank God it happened at night, because of the low amount of traffic on the bridge. If that had happened during the daytime, casualties would be in the thousands. My heart aches for those lives lost.

There were two ship pilots aboard the ship as it left its berth in the Port of Baltimore. Can you tell us what ship pilots do?

Post: Ship pilots are brought on board in what are considered restricted maneuverability or navigation areas. They are local experts who are usually certified by the state or federal government to provide advice to the master of the vessel as to how to control the vessel, safely and adequately, through the pilotage waters, which in this case would be down the river from the Port of Baltimore.

Pilots are well practiced in close-quarters maneuvering, especially with tugboats and docking the vessel alongside the assigned berth.

The moment the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a container ship slammed into it.

But a pilot doesn’t come aboard the ship and take control of it, do they?

Post: They are just advisers to the captain, who is known as the “master.” The master still has full responsibility for the safe navigation of the vessel. So the pilot will meet the ship out at sea or at the dock if it’s in port and leaving to go to sea. They proceed up to the bridge. Usually they exchange greetings, and usually a little bit of ship’s swag is given, either a hat or something else, or at least a cup of coffee.

They then set up their gear. With the electronics that we now have, they plug into the ship’s electronic chart data information system. And then they conduct the pilot exchange with the master of the vessel, where the master of the vessel describes where they are going, what the characteristics of the ship are, who’s on the bridge, what their first language is and the air draft of the vessel, which refers to how high out of the water the vessel is, so that you know whether you can take the ship under a bridge safely.

Once that’s completed, the pilot then starts instructing the officer of the watch or the captain – those are usually the same person – in how to get to where they need to be to dock the ship, or undock the ship and bring it to sea. This instructing is done during complex maneuvers, not all the time. The pilot can also say he’s not going to do it, and can shut down their operations if conditions are unsafe or if they feel that the vessel is not in condition to be able to transit safely. That happens a lot, especially in fog.

The ship pilot also interacts with the Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service and other ships in the area, and coordinates with the tugboats and line handlers to be able to safely maneuver the vessel close to the pier or when a ship is leaving the berth.

Can you describe the training of a ship pilot?

Post: Most of them start out at a maritime academy and have to spend many years at sea in command or as a bridge watch-stander on a vessel. From there, they start into the pilot apprentice program that each one of the pilot associations has, and those programs last years. What they do in those programs is use simulators and real, actual hands-on training, so that they can see how the different ships maneuver, how different places along the route have different currents and tides, and how the channels affect the ships.

It’s not something that you can go to a sea school for three weeks to learn and then come out and be a pilot. It’s many years long. They’re really the surgeons of the sea.

So when a ship’s pilot shows up, they’re going to be someone with a minimum of how many years training before they even get onto your ship?

Post: Many have 10-plus years before they are allowed to work on their own.

A Liverpool, England, ship pilot climbing down a ladder from the MSC Sandra to a waiting pilot launch after guiding the container ship out of the Mersey River at the beginning of its voyage to Montreal. Photo by Colin McPherson/Corbis via Getty Images

They have to be specialists in the place where they work, don’t they?

Post: Most of them are ship’s officers licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard, and they’re licensed for unlimited tonnage vessels. But that’s not the end of training. From there, they are hired into the pilot apprentice programs for the area in which they’re going to gain their pilot endorsement or credentials. One pilot may not be credentialed in another area. They spend many years under the guidance of senior pilots who teach them basically everything that they need to know about the local waterways, about the navigation, current tides, where all the berths are. They become absolute experts in how to do this. And then, when most of them end up taking the pilotage exam, they have to draw the charts that they would be using in the pilotage waters – from memory.

Are there legal requirements for ship pilots to be present both going out of and coming in these restricted areas?

Post: Yes, there are – state law, federal law or both.

This is an almost 1,000-foot-long vessel. Is that big, small or medium?

Post: That’s about standard size these days. Ship sizes have absolutely grown monstrous over the years. But 1,000 feet is just about normal.

Has ship piloting been around for a long time?

Post: It’s been around for almost as long as man has been using the sea for commerce. In the early years of sea travel, and even now, a captain is not going to know every port, so he would bring on a person with local knowledge. It started out a lot of times as local fishermen. In the U.S., the Sandy Hook Pilots Association has been piloting ships in and out of New York Harbor for about 300 years.

Was what happened in Baltimore every captain, pilot and crew’s nightmare?

Post: Absolutely. My initial assumption is that I think it’s going to come down to an electrical fault on the ship that was just terrible timing.