THE AUCKLAND PILOTING SYSTEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6483, 28 August 1882, Page 5

THE AUCKLAND PILOTING SYSTEM.

Fitbil time to time for years past we have bad occasion to reflect upon the inefficiency <jf the system adopted by.the Harbour Board for the. piloting of. English and foreign vessels into this port, and now that the Board ijre about to frame a new 3ystem it would be well for them to base it upon those of the neighbouring colonies, and thus make i'laquate arrangements for the increasing requirements of the port. "No end of severe criticism has been engaged'in lately regarding the disgraceful operations of the Auckland pilots," not only by the captains of coming to this port, but by shipowners' at Home and abroad; and this criticism is no more than just. We have heard of 'several instances where masters of vessels coining from London, strangers on the coast of New have been for days looking for a pilot to guide their vessels into harbour.; and very often it happens that while the masters are left to thread their' way through the many islands which stud the coast, the pilot schooner is lying quietly at anchor at the North Head, and the pilots comfortably resting in the. cabin, not knowing that there ' is a vessel outside, and having no thought whatever of the'auxiety of the captain, who is straining every nerve to keep clear of the rocks and other dangers which surround his vessel on i ts course from the Henand Chickens down -to Tiritiri. When the vessel haa reached the latter point, and is approaching Rangit'oto, the pilot boards her, after the most dangerous part of the entrance to the Harbour his been passed. This state of affairs is by no means satisfactory, and now that the trade between this port and other parts of the world has assumed an im portance sufficient to require increased shipping, it is more than time that something was done to afford greater facilities for the safer pilotage of largo vessels into and out of our harbour. The ca?e of the ship Herinione, recently froni London, is a forcible instance ef this necessity. After the vessel had got inside Tiritiri she was lioveto for several hours, waiting for the pilot, notwithstanding the fact that she had been signalling by burning the usual blue light during the whole of that time for the assistance required. The specification of the new system of piloting here will probably to a great extent obviate this difficulty, as we understand the piloting has to be done by contract, arid competitive examination, and for any cause of neglect the pilot may be fined. The present schooner will be let by the month for two or three years,' as the successful competitors for the position agree to with the Harbour Board, but this will only effect partial reform, as the extent of their look-out for vessels limits them to 8 miles beyond Rangitoto Reef. Their proper ground should certainly be a much greater distance away —not nearer than between the Hen and Chickens and the Little Barrier.. For it is there that the dangers begin. By the time the vessels have reached Tiritiri, the most complicated part of the entrance has been passed, and the services of a pilot after that are really not required, and are considered by many masters of ships as being merely nominal. The pilot systems adopted in the neighbouring colonies are very complete, and all interested in shipping matters speak in the highest terms of those, adopted at both Sydney and Melbourne. At the latter port the pilot station is situated at Port Phillip Heads, and the staff consists of about twenty pilots, ten of whom go out in one of the schooners at a time, remaining outside the Heads for at least ten days, and at the end of that period she is relieved by another schooner having the remainder of the pilots on board. Each pilot before entering the service must undergo a long course of training, and pass a certain examination, and when he has been licenced, before he can take his place in the active service, he must lay down a deposit of £500 as his interest in the plant, and security for the proper discharge of his duties. In Sydney the pilots are appointed by the Marine Board, and a steamer lies inside the Heads in Watson's Bay, while on the elevated top of the South Head there is a flagstaff and a look-out kept night and day fo° approaching vessels. The moment a vessel is sighted the signal is hoisted at the flagstaff, and: the pilot steamer slips her moorings and steams outside to meet the vessel, and drops a pilot on board. In England and America the systems are more complete, and, as of course is necessary, are more systematically organised. No one who has visited England, and had occasion to proceed up the English Channel, could have failed to notice with what vigilance the pilot-boats keep their look-out. The whole channel is studded with their white sails from the mouth of the Thames down to Land's End, each vessel having its number marked in large letters on the main-sail. The number of pilot-boats is fixed by the Government, and on each of these there are a number of duly qualified licensed pilots, who generally own the craft. The system in New York "is similar to this, and the mode of giving licenses to a certain number o c . thoroughly qualified men, who for their livelihood are dependent upon their own vigilance in submitting their services to incoming and outgoing vessels, secures the thorough attention of the pilots, whereas, were the Governments of these countries to adopt a system such as that which is carried out here, they would be entirely dependent upon those whom they employed. Now that new arrangements are about to be made, the Harbour Board might as well adopt some similar system to the one we have above referred to, and by doing so they would place Auckland on a footing with other colonies, so far as piloting is concerned. The necessity for having the pilot look-out • ground somewhere much further out than the entrance to the harbour channel is also a matter for grave consideration, for no one knows the day when an accident which might involve appalling loss of life and property might occur, and all through the inability of captains of vessels to obtain a pilot when his services are most needed.