pilot

An officer serving on board of a ship during the course of a voyage, and having the charge of the helm and of the ship's route. An officer authorized by' law, who is taken on board at a particular place for the purpose of conducting a ship through a river, road, or channel, or from or into port. 10 Abb. Pr. (N. Y.) 30. Pilots of the second description are established by legislative enactments at the principal seaports in this country, and have laws establishing them; the principal being the obligation of every vessel entering the port to take on a licensed pilot of the port, usually the first who offers his services (118 U. S. 90; 12 Fed. 81; 10 Fed. 135), or pay pilotage to the pilot so offering.

An officer serving on board of a ship during the course of a voyage, and having charge of the helm and of the ship’s route. An officer authorized by law who is taken on board at a particular place for the purpose of conducting a ship through a river, road, or channel, or from or into port. Pilots of the second description are established by legislative enactments at the principal seaports in this country, and have rights, and are bound to perform duties, agreeably to the provisions of the several laws establishing them. Pilots have been established in all maritime countries. After due trial and experience of their qualifications, they are licensed to offer themselves as guides in difficult navigation; and they are usually, on the other hand, bound to obey the call of a ship-master to exercise their functions; Abb. Sh. 13th ed. 190; Snell v. Rich, 1 Johns. (N. Y.) 305; Bussy v. Donaldson, 4 Dali (U. S.) 206, 1 L. Ed. 802; 5 B. & P. 82; 5 Rob. Adm. 308; Laws of Oleron, art. 23; Act of Congr. of August 7, 1789, § 4; Pardessus, n. 637. The master of a vessel may decline the services of a pilot, but in that event he must pay the legal fees; Camp v. The Marcellus, 1 Cliff. 492, Fed. Cas. No. 2,347. A pilot who first offers his services, if rejected, is entitled to his fee; The America, 2 Am. Law Rev. 458, Fed. Cas. No. 289; Wilson v. Mc- Namee, 102 U. S. 572, 26 L. Ed. 234. The pilot is to conduct the navigation, regulate the course of the ship and the management of the sails; 7 Moore, P. C. 171, 134. He is not liable for damages to the vessel unless caused by his failure to use ordinary diligence, i. e., the degree of skill commonly possessed by others in the same employment; * Wilson v. Pilots’ Ass’n, 57 Fed. 227. A river pilot is bound to be familiar with the channel of the river, and with the such knowledge, but not for damages occasioned by an error of judgment on his part; The Tom Lysle, 48 Fed. 600. Shipowners are responsible to third parties for obedience to the pilot; bis orders ordinarily, are to be implicitly obeyed. In The China, 7 Wall. (U. S.) 53, 19 L. Ed. 67, it was held in admiralty that a steamship is liable for damages arising out of a collision with another steamship, due solely to the negligence of a compulsory pilot. In Ralli v. Troop, 157 U. S. 386, 402, 15 Sup. Ct. 657, 39 L. Ed. 742, the rule of The China was followed; the opinion of the court placing it upon “a distinct principle of the maritime law that the vessel, in whosesoever hands she lawfully is, is herself considered as the wrongdoer.” (Rut this responsibility does not include the cargo; id.) The continental cases are m accord, but the English rule holds that the ship is not liable in admiralty; Ralli v. Troop, 157 U. S. 386, 15 Sup. Ct. 657, 39 L. Ed. 742; 2 W. Rob. 10 (and now by statute in England in all cases). In a common law action the owners are not liable in such a case; thus, in Homer Ramsdell Transp. Co. v. La Compagnie Gcnerale Transatlantique, 182 IT. S. 406, 21 Sup. Ct. 831, 45 L. Ed. 1155, a steamship, by the negligence of a compulsory pilot, struck a pier; in an action at common law the shipowners were held not liable. And the rule is the same in England; Ralli v. Troop, 157 U. S. 386, 15 Sup. Ct. 657, 39 L. Ed. 742. Of the judgment of the court in The China, 7 Wall. (U. S.) 53, 19 L. Ed. 67, John C. Gray says (Nature and Sources of the Law 47) that “Judge Holmes [in Com. Law 28] speaks of this decision with more tenderness than it deserves.” The owner remains liable for the ship’s management in all things that do not relate to mere navigation; The Oregon, 158 U. S. 186, 15 Sup. Ct. 804, 39 L. Ed. 943. A compulsory pilot differs from an ordinary employ^ and may be held liable to the vessel for damages she has been compelled to pay by reason of his negligence; Guy v. Donald, 157 Fed. 527, 85 C. C. A. 291, 14 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1114, 13 Ann. Gas. 947,

A partlchlar officer serving on board a ship during the course of a voyage, and having the charge of the helm and the ship's route; or a person taken on board at any particular place for the purpose of conducting a ship through a river, road or channel or from or into a port. People v. Francisco, 10 Abb. Prae. (N. Y.) 32; State v. Turner, 34 Or. 173, 55 Pac. 92; Chapman v. Jackson, 9 Rich. Law (S. Ct) 212; State v. Jones, 16 Fla. 306.

— Branch pilot. One possessing a license, commission, or certificate of competency issued by the proper authority and usually after an examination. U. S. v. Forbes, 25 Fed. Cas. 1141; Petterson v. State (Tex. Cr. R.) 58 S. W. 100; Dean v. Healy, 66 Ga. 503; Slate v. Follett, 33 La. Ann. 228.

Formerly, a helmsman, or his skill and knowledge in respect to a particular channel, harbor, bay, port, &c., to take charge of a vessel entering such waters, and conduct or steer her through. Pilotage: the service of steering a vessel through particular waters, rendered by a person specially acquainted with them, and appointedsoto do. Also, the compensation payable for such service; the fee of a pilot. The dangerous navigation of the coasts and of the rivers of England has led to the appointment of qualified persons, who receive a license to act as pilots within a certain district, and who enjoy the monopoly of conducting vessels out of and up the various rivers, and to and from the various ports of the country. By different acts of parliar ment, the master of every ship engaged in foreign trade must put his ship under the charge of a local pilot, so licensed, both in his outward and in his homeward voyage. The same considerations have led to the establishment of a similar system in many of the ports of the United States; and to the enactment of laws authorizing the official appointment and commissioning of pilots, and requiring vessels whose masters refuse the services of a pilot, duly tendered, to pay pilotage, or half pilotage, notwithstanding. Pilotage authorities. Bodies of persons in different parts of the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, having powers and jurisdictions with regard to the appointment and regulation of pilots for the districts in which they respectively act. The power of appointing these " duly licensed pilots " is said, by Brown, to be mainly vested in the corporation of the Trinity House, Deptford, whose jurisdiction extends from Orfordness to London Bridge, from London Bridge to the Downs, from the Downs westward to the Isle of Wight; and all bodies or persons having the power of appointment in other places (as the commissionei-s of the Cinque Ports, the Trinity Houses of Hull, Newcastle, and Liverpool) are, to some extent, subject to their authority. The rates of charge for pilotage are regulated, partly

mer. law. This word has two meanings. It signifies, first, an officer serving on board of a ship during the course of a voyage, and having the charge of the helm and of the ship’s route; and, secondly, an officer authorised by law, who is taken on board at a particular place, for the purpose of conducting a ship through a river, road or channel, or from or into port. Pilots of the second description are established by legislative enactments at the principal seaports in this country, and have rights and are bound to perform duties agreeably to the provisions of the several laws establishing them. Abbott on Ship. 180; 1 John. R. 305; 4 Dall. 205; 2 New R. 82; 5 Rob. Adm. Rep. 308; 6 Rob. Adm. R. 316; Laws/of Oler. art. 23; Molloy, B. 2, c. 9, s. 3 and 7; Wesk. Ins. 395; Act of congress of 7th August, 1789, 8.4; Merl. Rért. h. t.; Pardessus, n. 637.