GIBBS HILL pilot sloop Bermuda

[aukepalmhof]

19 May 2011 the Bermuda Post released four stamps which depicting historical snapshots of early piloting in Bermuda.
0.35c Portrays a piloting crew bring its gig ashore and the “Heathers Chart.
0.70c Pictures a painting of the pilot sloop GIBBS HILL. (No info on the sloop)
0.85 Captures details of a pilot sloop and portrait of pilot Jacob Minors.
Jacob Minors was a legendary pilot thought to have descended from a Native American captive. He died in 1875 at the age of 84.
$1.10 captures a view of a gig ploughing through rough seas.

The graveyard of shipwrecks surrounding Bermuda is testament to the Island’s treacherous encircling reefs and complicated channel systems.
Local knowledge, navigation charts, lighthouses, signalling stations, beacons and buoys have aided in the safe passage of incoming and outgoing ships, but the experience of local pilots has been paramount importance. Pilots are local coastal navigators who guide ships through the difficult approaches to Bermuda.

Bermuda 2011 0.35c/$1.10 sg?, scott?

Info from Bermuda Post Office, more info on the history of the Bermuda pilot service you can find on:
http://www.gov.bm/portal/server.pt/gate ... oting.html

Piloting has been an honorable profession among Bermudians for centuries. Prior to surveys in the 1780’s, the only known anchorages for larger vessels were the Roads off St. George’s and inside the Castle Harbour. Because of the location of the reefs around the Island – ten miles or more offshore to the north and less than half a mile on the south - the accepted approach, particularly from North America, was to make for 32° 05’ north latitude some 50 miles to the west of the Island and then sail due east, which ensures passing 4 or 5 miles clear of the SW breaker, which is the only danger on that side of the Island; and this only a Mile from the Shore.

The Southwest Breaker can be seen as the white water lying to the right from Church Bay at some distance from the shore. Here it was that the early pilots looked for business. They could keep a watch for an approaching sail from the west from the high cliffs of Southampton and have time to sail out in their small sloops to meet the vessel and navigate it to its destination at the East End. The same watch was carried out at the eastern end of the island in St. David’s atop the hill where the Lighthouse now stands. Crews would race offshore to place their Pilot onboard any ship appearing on the horizon as the first crew would be the one to be paid.

In 1795 the first three channel pilots were appointed to be King’s Pilots. In 1806, consideration was given to eliminating this small group of specialized pilots and to qualify all Bermuda pilots to bring naval vessels through the reefs. However, nothing further was done until the War of 1812 brought home to the Bermuda legislature just how vital the pilotage system was to the Island’s wellbeing.

In 1812, an Act was passed to insure that experienced and fit Pilots be appointed and that unskillful persons be prevented from undertaking to be Pilots. The mayors of St. George’s and Hamilton were each made responsible, together with two justices of the peace of their town, for nominating a committee of three for each port to examine candidates for pilots. A potential pilot was to have a good and sufficient boat of not less than eighteen feet by the keel. The word "PILOT" was to be painted in black on the most frequent worn sail and a red flag at least three feet square with either S.G. (for St. George’s) or H (for Hamilton) on it was to be flown.

A new pilot Act in 1843 created three Commissioners of Pilotage, with the naval commander-in-chief as the fourth ex officio commissioner, to take the place of the two port committees. The Queen’s (King’s) Pilots, who were responsible for piloting the naval vessels in and out of Bermudian waters, were also brought under the Act. Again, all pilots, unless they were slaves, were required to have a good decked sailing boat of not less than eighteen feet by the keel. Two classes of pilots were recognized – those licensed for the several ports in the Islands and those licensed for the usual channels at the east end of the Islands. Three years later, there were 18 General Pilots, including the Warden of Queen’s Pilots and one Queen’s Pilot, and 12 East End Pilots, including two Queen,s Pilots.

From the time of the Act of 1812, it was established that the first pilot to reach a vessel was entitled to the pilotage fees, even if the master of the vessel refused him. This made piloting almost a competitive sport, as each pilot had his own boat. Although the requirement to own a sailing boat was still included in the 1898 Pilot Act, 6 and 8 oared gigs had largely replaced the sloops as pilot boats before that time. This was because of their greater speed in light winds, when winning the race to the incoming vessel was the only prize.

In search of this prize, the pilot boats ranged further and further from the Island, until it was not uncommon for a steamer from New York or Halifax to have to stop and pick up its pilot 50-100 miles out. The steamer captains were concerned over this situation, as the gigs sailed these distances with little or no navigational equipment, so that the occasional one was lost. Through coercion, they were able to put an end to the practice by the late 1920s. In 1928, a new Pilotage act brought the pilots under the Bermuda Board of Trade and marked the start of the government pilot service. In that time, all the pilot gigs have vanished from the scene, and today the pilots are transported to and from their charges in all-weather diesel-powered boats, the CURLEW and St. GEORGE, designed to handle the often rough sea conditions encountered in the Pilot boarding area.

The Pilots were provided with a station in St. David’s with a cottage for the Warden of Pilots nearby as well as dormitories for the boat crews and Pilots who had to remain in the east end between shipping assignments. It was complete with mast for signal flags which were flown to indicate to arriving vessels whether the pilot was underway to them or they had to remain offshore. The Pilot Service came under the advice of Trinity House in the United Kingdom and standards were implemented to match. Two new wooden, diesel powered boats entered service, the. BRENDAN, and. DAVID and provided stellar service until being replaced by the steel hulled vessels. In 1979 the station was given over to the nearby St. David’s Primary school and the Pilots moved their office to Fort George where it remains today.

The Pilot service is now consolidated in the East end of the island with the pilot boat departing from the cutter crew station at Ordnance Island in St. George Harbour and transporting the Pilots out to Five Fathom Hole, approximately 3 to 5 miles offshore from St. David’s Head, where they board the vessels. The Service covers all ports throughout the entire island without the need of separate service at the west end of the island as the entrance to Bermuda’s shipping channel is from the east. It also handles any and all vessels which may require the service of a Pilot.

The Pilot Service is of great importance to the Bermuda islands as they maintain the lines of sea commerce and tourism so important to the island. The service joined the International Maritime Pilots Association in 2002. They are kept up to date on the newest technology onboard ships and are trained regularly in simulators and also assist in Search and Rescue operations offshore using their boats and crews, as well as in Port Development.