In Maryland, a Board of Pilots within the state’s Department of Labor, oversees the licensing and regulation of the pilots and their business. ![]() Having an association with pilots taking turns avoided the hazards of racing out further and further in foul weather to be the first aboard. The first pilot aboard typically was hired by the ship’s captain. Prior to its founding in 1852, the association’s eventual members operated independently and vied for the business of providing navigational services to vessels coming into the Chesapeake by racing to them in fast sailboats. They board vessels night and day, 365 days a year, from launches designed to carry them back and forth.Īccording to its website, the association is the nation’s oldest state-codified pilots association in the nation. The Maryland Association of Pilots carries a roster of licensed captains trained and qualified for fulfilling that requirement. Ships operating in Chesapeake Bay are required by the state to take aboard a bay pilot to help navigate the narrow-channeled waters safely. But, it’s important to determine the cause of the grounding quickly so any action, if any is needed, can be taken to avoid a similar situation in the future. Will a review of black box-like recordings of conversations on the bridge before the incident answer these questions?įor now, involved organizations are for the most part staying quiet. ![]() Was there a mechanical failure or an uncharted shoal? Was there a miscommunication on the bridge of the vessel? Was there a navigational error in the instructions given to the vessel’s helmsman? Most of the emphasis over the past several weeks has focused on efforts to free the vessel, but little is being said about what led to the grounding. ![]() The grounding took place where the channel coming east out of Baltimore takes a turn to the south toward the bay bridge. That’s one of the many questions being asked, and investigated, since the Hong Kong-flagged Ever Forward did just that in the darkening hours of Sunday evening, March 13. How does a thousand-foot long freighter with 5,000 containers packed aboard stray out of the carefully marked 50-foot deep channel coming out of the port of Baltimore and run hard aground in 23-foot deep water? This US Coast Guard photograph by Petty Officer 3rd Class Kimberly Reaves shows containers being removed this week from the grounded Everforward to lighten her load and enable tugs to pull her back into Chesapeake Bay’s main shipping channel.
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