Unrivalled Harbor Expertise
in East Boston
Expertise, coordination, and communication are vital components of Boston Harbor pilots’ work, from planning the leap across open water to warning recreational boats out of the shipping channel.
Photo by David J. Weaver
The Boston Pilot boat and tanker travel side-by-side at identical pre-arranged speed and direction. When the pilot judges the alignment to be optimal, he jumps to the hanging ladder and climbs aboard.
By law, all ships over a certain size—fuel tankers, container ships, even luxury yachts—must have a commissioned pilot on board to enter the harbor. Boston’s eight pilots hold “Unlimited Ocean Master” licenses issued by the Coast Guard; they can command any size vessel. Their decades of experience and intimate knowledge of the harbor’s underwater landscape, tides, and currents enable them to bring every ship to dock safely. They work alternating weeks and are available every hour every day—in all weather.
Ship captains—and ship owners—recognized centuries ago the value of having on board a mariner with knowledge of local conditions. In 1783, the Boston Marine Society, an association of sea captains, advocated for “the establishment of a regular, skillful system of pilotage” in Massachusetts. For decades thereafter they managed the pilots. Today, two governor-appointed commissioners oversee the service that protects the environment and commercial shipping.
After Boston Light was built in 1716, its keeper and his assistants also served as Boston Harbor’s pilots. This continued the informal pilotage system of the Colonial Era.
Engraving by William Burgis, 1729; courtesy of the Boston Public Library
The Boston Marine Society, incorporated in 1754, is believed to be the oldest organization of its kind. From its founding, the Society has dedicated itself to safe navigation, including advocating for lighthouses, buoys, and markers.
Courtesy of the Boston Marine Society
The Boston Pilot boats bring pilots about 10 miles off shore, where they board incoming vessels, give compass and speed instructions, and ensure ships stay within the main shipping channel. Some ships approach through The Narrows, the original entrance to Boston Harbor that threads its way around islands and shoals.
Map by Ken Dumas
For decades, schooners served as the harbor’s pilot boats, ferrying pilots beyond the lighthouses to board incoming ships. In 1941, the Boston Pilots Association bought the Roseway, the last schooner to serve as a pilot boat for Boston Harbor. She filled that role until 1973.
Courtesy of the Duval family. Paul Duval’s maternal grandfather, Joseph P. Sullivan, served as a commissioned Boston Harbor Pilot from 1939 until his retirement in 1974.
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Harbor Pilots have extensive experience as ship captains and detailed knowledge of the local waterways, channels, currents, and vessel traffic, so they can safely guide ships through their harbor. Federal and state regulations require that any vessel over 350 tons must have a harbor pilot on board in order to sail into a commercial harbor like Boston.
To be commissioned as a Harbor Pilot in Massachusetts, the captain must have a ”Master Unlimited License,” certifying that s/he can sail any size vessel. The license usually takes someone a decade to earn. In Boston, when a captain applies and is selected as a pilot candidate, s/he begins a year as an unpaid apprentice, shadowing the eight senior pilots to gain experience. Then the apprentice spends an additional year piloting the smaller of the large vessels that come into Boston Harbor.
Nancy Wright, November 2018
Boston’s eight Harbor Pilots guide about 900 ships a year into the port. By law, any vessel over 350 gross tons that seeks to enter a commercial harbor must have a pilot on board. Large vessels usually anchor about 10 miles off shore and request harbor pilot assistance. Once the pilot boat comes alongside the ship, the pilot transfers onto the ship by climbing up a rope ladder dangling off its side–a maneuver that can be treacherous and unpredictable. Boston Harbor Pilots operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year from their office in the East Boston Shipyard.
Photo from the bridge of a fuel tanker heading out of Boston’s inner harbor, courtesy of Captain Thom Evans
The practice of employing local navigation experts as harbor pilots dates back to Ancient Greece and Roman times. It was a long-standing practice in Europe in the centuries that followed. Information about harbor pilots during the Colonial Era is sparse. It appears to have been informal with ship owners tapping into local men known for their knowledge of the harbor. Once Boston Light was built in 1716, the keeper the light served as the principal pilot for the harbor. The Boston Harbor Pilot Association, who now handle all harbor pilot duties, was founded in 1783.
lnw February 2019
The Harbor Pilots have had a number of home bases. For more than 40 years they operated out of Lewis Wharf in the North End. After their headquarters were destroyed by fire, they had space mainly at Long Wharf. They have been in East Boston since 2006.
There are two Harbor Pilot boats each manned by two captains. They work 5 days, alternating 8-hour shifts, and then have 5 days off. In addition to making sure the pilot boat is perfectly aligned so that the pilot can get from the pilot boat to the large vessel safely, the pilot boat captains help with much of the coordination. They make sure the pilot is at the designated transfer spot, and they’re in place to pick up the pilot once the large vessel has docked or (on its way out) has headed out beyond the outer harbor. There are always two men on board the pilot boat, though one may be napping in the snug cabin below deck when not on duty.
No. Massachusetts is divided into four districts. A Harbor Pilot must hold a commission in the district he wishes to serve in. Boston is in district 1.
Among the steps to becoming commissioned as a harbor pilot, the applicant is given a completely blank chart of the district in which s/he’s applying. S/he must fill in—from memory—every buoy, ledge, land mass, just as it appears on a navigational chart. Once accepted, the pilot serves a one-year, unpaid apprenticeship alongside the district’s commissioned pilots.
Built in Essex, 
MA in 1925, the Roseway is easily recognized by her dark red sails. Though the schooner was used occasionally to fish, Roseway was specifically built to race in the annual competitions against the Canadian fishing fleet. It was on this basis that the schooner was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997.
In 1941, the Boston Pilots Association bought the schooner to serve as a pilot boat for Boston Harbor. She filled that role throughout World War II and up until 1973. After that, Roseway had several owners until in 2002, she was donated to World Ocean School. After a two-year restoration, she began her life at the heart of the non-profit educational organization empowering teens. Roseway spent her summers based in Boston and winters in St. Croix. In 2023, she moved to Mystic Seaport Museum in preparation for extensive restoration.
The Duval family kindly shared a photograph of the Roseway during its years as a pilot boat. Paul Duval’s maternal grandfather, Joseph P. Sullivan, served as a commissioned Boston Harbor Pilot from 1939 until his retirement in 1974. For a number of those years, the Roseway was the pilot boat that took him to vessels needing his service.
In a color photograph, the flag would show its red and white colors. (white on the left; red on the right) The flag symbolizes the letter “H”” in the international code of signals, is called a “hotel flag,” and means there’s a pilot on board.
Resources
- Baker, William A. A History of the Boston Marine Society, 1742-1981. Boston Marine Society, 1982.
- Boston Looks Seaward: The Story of the Port, 1630-1940. Compiled by workers of the Writers’ Program, Work Project Administration (WPA), Bruce Humphries, Inc. 1941.
- Bunting, W.H. Portrait of a Port: Boston, 1852-1914. Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, 1971.
- Cunliffe, Tom. Pilots: The World of Pilotage Under Sail and Oar. Volume 1. Pilot Schooners of North America and Great Britain. Le Chasse-Marée/Maritime, 2001.
- Eastman, Ralph M. Pilots and Pilot Boats of Boston Harbor. Second Bank-State Street Trust Company, 1956.
- Treffeisen, Beth. “The Tricky Work of Guiding Massive Ships into Boston Harbor,” Boston Globe Magazine. July 11, 2015.
- About Harbor Pilots
- NPR story
Acknowledgments
- Warm thanks to the Harbor Pilots for their support and assistance.
- Thank you to the Boston Marine Society whose generous support made this sign possible.
- Our gratitude to the Perkins School for the Blind and David W. Cook for their partnership in creating the audio files.