Ships' pilots are

surely skilled people? No, it isn't like driving one of those great big mining lorries. It is an entirely different activity. 

My family has been watching the unfolding situation in the Suez with perhaps a little more interest than many people. The Senior Cat grew up next to the sea. The "Outer Harbour" and the "Inner Port" were part of his everyday life. His father had his tailoring business in the same area. Much of his work was related to making naval uniforms. (He made military uniforms as well. His name appears frequently in the Visitors' Books at Government House because he made uniforms for the Governors in the days when they were military men.) 

As a child I spent five years living in the same area. We knew about boats. We knew the tugs by name and could recognise them from a distance. We knew the ketches, the trawlers and the yachts. A big treat of childhood was to simply go down to the docks and watch the biggest ships being unloaded or loaded.  

One of the best ever birthday presents I and my brother shared was a tour of one of the big ships - all the way from the engine rooms to the bridge. The Captain must have known our grandfather well because he showed us over and answered our many, many questions. 

He had also gone to the trouble of getting the maritime maps my great-grandfather had made. Great-Grandpa Donald had died many years before but his influence on the area lasted until computers took over. He was a self-taught marine cartographer and his work, according to those who knew, was "outstanding". He mapped the entire area and then went further afield so that shipping could get to the mines further north.   

Great-Grandpa Donald was also a ships' pilot. There were no accidents or disasters on his watch. He guided thousands of vessels into a port which was plagued by shifting sand bars and he did it in all sorts of weathers. By modern standards those vessels would be considered "small" now but they were the giants of their time. The other pilot of the day was reportedly almost as good as he was.

Many of the things they had to take into account must still be part of the job today. If they suddenly reappeared I wonder whether they could guide a vessel through the Suez without the computer aided information pilots now rely on. I suspect they could.