"There has been a demand for Deep Sea Pilots for as long as there has been a demand for District Pilots, (i.e. Pilots for Ports and Estuaries) which is a concept more easily understood by the layman. As those who wished to employ a Deep Sea Pilot also wished to ensure that the man they were employing was qualified to assist their ship, then a system of licencing had to be introduced. The Corporation of the Hull Trinity House was granted, by the Charter of Queen Elizabeth the First of 1581,"The Authority to examine and licence mariners to take charge of vessels sailing the seas.", as distinct from river Pilots. The London Trinity House began granting licences in 1864 although the date of introducing an examination for the licence is not known exactly. The 1913 Pilotage Act also noted that licences were issued by the Leith Trinity House and the Tyne Pilotage Commissioners. The Forth and Clyde Pilotage Authorities have also in the past, issued Deep Sea Pilotage licences. The records of the Corporation of Newcastle Trinity House would indicate that that house was issuing appropriate licences in 1831 and probably before that date. These early licences were known as "Branches" and today those Master Mariners who are admitted as Younger Brothers of the Corporation of the Hull Trinity House still receive their Branch.
Those early Pilots, in addition to offering their services to the merchant vessels of the day were also employed by the Admiralty and the navies of other Nations. There are records which show that on March 31st 1696 the Guild of the Hull Trinity House provided Lieutenant Robert Jenkinson, commander of the "Sandwich", Ketch, with a "pylott" by the name of J. Gaul, from Hull to the Nore Boy (buoy), and pilots were supplied to the Russian Fleet to take them to the Downs, off the Kent Coast. Both Hull and Newcastle Trinity Houses supplied pilots to the admiralty for the Campaign led by Admiral Nelson against the Danish which resulted in the famous Battle of Copenhagen in 1856/57, and the Admiralty sent eighteen medals in recognition of the service so provided.
The power was granted to the Guild of the Hull Trinity House, by the Charter of 1581, to fine anyone taking charge of a vessel when that person was not qualified, which is a power that present Deep Sea Pilots would like to see restored, and which may be when EC (now EU) directive 79/115/EEC is complied with.