The Bar Pilot

There are small Pilot boats resembling coast guard boats that go out to the beginning of the channel and guide the boats in across the bar and up the river. The “Pilot” actually gets off of his own small boat and climbs up a ladder onto the large ship and navigates for the ship’s captain in order to get the vessel into the Columbia river. There are 14 bar pilots and 42 river pilots. A special pilot school is required for anyone desiring to do this job and the pilot must have been a riverboat or tugboat captain for at least 3 years. It is extremely dangerous. The most critical point is climbing up and then back down the ladder hung over the side of the large ship that must be alongside the small pilot vessel. Get to close, the pilot could be crushed, too far away and he could be in the sea and swept underneath the ship. We watched a pilot board a large ship and hang from the ladder of the ship while waiting to board his small vessel. With treacherous seas, this could be terrifying and life threatening.