PILOT/FIREBOAT Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding has been a go-to shipyard for generations of pilot associations looking to update their fleets with sturdy and capable launches. That reputation has apparently reached foreign shores. Last fall, the Somerset, Mass., shipyard delivered the 52-by-15-foot Chesapeake-class pilot boat St. George to the Bermuda Department of Marine and Port Services, a longtime partner on new vessels. St.…
Every day, professional mariners may work with pilots, but many may not know the level of expertise that goes into their 24/7 work of safely guiding vessels of all sizes and types in and out of the nation’s ports in often hazardous conditions. Their’s is a unique role that requires an incredible depth of knowledge of both the local waterways…
Pilots and the highly specialized boats they depend on have occupied a unique position in the maritime sector since the days of sail. Motorized pilot boats, introduced around 1900, relied on traditional displacement hulls with a top speed of around 10 knots and remained in service into the late 1990’s on the West Coast. They were finally replaced by the…
The San Francisco Bar Pilots have set a new standard for American pilot boats with the arrival of the 67-foot Golden Gate. The San Francisco Bar Pilots has a rich history and is one of the few pilot groups left in the U.S. that operates offshore station boats 24 hours a day with its 104-foot vessels loitering 12 miles outside…
Sturdy launch keeps Pascagoula pilots all-weather ready Capt. Walter Gautier stood on the aft deck of the new pilot launch Singing River Island in Pascagoula, Miss., as a 30-knot wind blew from the south. “When it’s a sea like this,” Gautier said, gesturing toward the Gulf of Mexico, “this is the boat you want.” The 55-foot Singing River Island…
Great Lakes pilot association diversifies fleet with fuel-sipping Huron Pride The Lakes Pilots Association operates two Chesapeake-class pilot boats from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding. A third launch from the yard, delivered earlier this year, adds speed and versatility to that proven fleet. The 42.5-foot Resilient-class Huron Pride operates from the pilots’ home base in Port Huron, Mich. The deep-V aluminum hull was designed…