and if he came to grief he had only himself
to blame. In those days, too, there were
no fixed rates of charges for the services of
the comparatively few men who set up as
pilots, so that it would frequently happen
that a hard bargain would be driven in a
gale of wind and a high sea, the pilot
trying to get all he could, and the master
trying to beat him down. This system,
however, would not do at all. By reason
of the numerous wrecks which were
constantly taking place, and the great loss of
life and property consequent thereon, owing
to masters piloting their own ships, and to
the ignorance and misconduct of persons
taking charge of vessels as pilots, it was
at last found necessary to adopt some
measures to improve this state of things. The
government took the matter up, and
endeavoured to elaborate a system. It was
resolved that any man who professed to be
able to conduct vessels in any particular
locality should be made to show his
qualifications for that duty, and on his showing
satisfactorily that he was able to do so, a
licence was to be granted to him to permit
him to pilot vessels in the locality with
which he was familiar. Properly constituted
authorities at different parts of the
coast were empowered to examine and
license pilots, to fix the rates to be charged,
and to exercise a general control over the
men. To insure, also, a good supply of
men, and to raise the profession to a better
position, it was enacted that a shipmaster,
on coming into dangerous waters, should
be compelled to employ a pilot to conduct
his vessel.

Compulsory pilotage is not, however, in
force all round the coast. At most of our
important ports and the estuaries of our principal
rivers, where the navigation is intricate
and dangerous, masters are bound by law to
have recourse to the pilot's services. But
at many other places, what is called the
voluntary system prevails. As a rule, a
master is only too glad, after a long voyage,
to give up charge of his vessel; but
there are a number of masters and owners
who grumble very much at being obliged
to pay for a pilot in any waters. But it
surely is a just and reasonable enactment
which provides that, among the dangers
of our coasts, life and property shall be
intrusted to those men only who have
shown their special knowledge of those
dangers. There is much wisdom, it seems
to us, in not allowing over-confident and
economical masters to try the effects of
their indifferent knowledge in navigating
their vessels through difficult and dangerous
waters. But this safeguard is to be
done away with; there is to be no obligation
at all for a captain to employ a pilot
in any waters. Such is the object of a bill
which will shortly become law, and then any
master may conduct his vessel as well as he
can, and with the aid of imperfect charts
and his own ignorance may make an end of
himself and his vessel on some convenient
rock or sandbank. But this "proposal to
establish a uniform system will have its
advantages: the regulations will be the
same everywhere, and it is not very likely
that the community of pilots will suffer,
for theirs are really valuable services to the
large majority of shipmasters, and there
will always be a great demand for them.

A few words about the special dangers
of certain localities. From Dungeness,
through the Downs and up the river to
London, is a distance of about eighty miles,
and the numerous and extensive sands on
all sides render the journey very difficult.
The channels are so intricate, narrow, and
tortuous, the sets of the tide are so peculiar,
that altogether it is no easy work to pilot
a ship. The Mersey, too, is very difficult
of approach, and still more so to get away
from: vessels go in and cannot get out
again without the pilot's aid. Then there
are the estuaries of the Humber, the Tyne,
the Avon, the Severn, the Clyde, and many
others, all presenting difficulties to the open
sea mariner, but all easy enough to men
who know the road.

The management of the pilot system, if it
can be called a system, looking at it from a
national point of view, is in many hands.
The pilotage of a large portion of the
English coast is under the direction of the
Elder Brethren of the Trinity House,
London, whose nautical experience well
qualifies them to know what is wanted by
the shipping community as regards pilotage;
having also the management of the
lights and buoys round the coast, they must
be well acquainted with the dangers of our
shores, and can therefore judge what
knowledge should be required of a man who
undertakes to pilot ships. At each of the
various outposts under the London Trinity
House jurisdiction, certain gentlemen,
interested in the shipping of the port, and
possessing some nautical knowledge, are
delegated to act on behalf of the Elder Brethren,
and are called sub-commissioners of pilotage.
There are other Trinity Houses at Hull,
Newcastle, and Leith, on a smaller scale
certainly than the Honourable Corporation
on Tower Hill, but who look equally well
after the wants of the maritime community