"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 70/115/EEC is complied
with. From a paper entitled 'What
is a Deep Sea Pilot' by Captain J.D.Robinson
published in the Parliamentary Maritime Review, Edition No.16 of 16th.April
1993
