Notes on Pilotage

 Pilots have been working out of Swansea ever since sea trading routes were established in the early Middle Ages and, in the early years, pilotage was undertaken by fishermen and other local seamen with an intimate knowledge of tides and weather conditions within the Bristol Channel area.

 The Port of Bristol controlled all pilotage acts in the greater part of the Bristol Channel, including Swansea, until the passing of the Swansea Harbour Act of 1791, which gave Swansea independent control by authorising the establishment of the Swansea Pilotage Authority.

Pilot vessels   

1892 – 9 licensed pilot boats - Vivian, Vigilant, Rival, Benson, Glance, Mary, Grenfell, Camelia, & C. Bath

1902 – 3 licensed pilot boats – Beaufort, Benson, & Grenfell.

1912 & 1917 yearbooks record the ‘Beaufort’ as a “schooner-rigged steam pilot vessel, the first steam-powered pilot cutter in the world.” 

“Beaufort” – commissioned 1898            “Roger Beck” - commissioned 1925

“Benson” – commissioned ?                    “Seamark” – commissioned 1959

1892 yearbook states – “Pilots are always to be obtained off the Mixon or within Mumbles Head, and no vessel must attempt to run for Swansea without one. They cruise in vessels of both schooner and cutter rig, with the letter S and a number on their sails.”

1902 yearbook adds – “Each pilot vessel is painted outside entirely black, with the exception of the letter S and the number of her licence in white on each bow, and the letter S and her number in black on her sails above the reef.”

 The present day pilot boat is the Beaufort

Pilot cutter 'Grenfell', bearing the licence number S9 on the bow and the aft sail, being towed out of Swansea Harbour, c.1904
 

Above is a model of the pilot cutter 'Grenfell', together with a plaque stating that she was built at Swansea by Philip Bevan in 1865. The sail plan is given as 1880.

(We are grateful to the Swansea Yacht & Sub Aqua Club for kindly allowing us to photograph this model.)
 

The two photos above are of the Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Cariad. Taken in the South Dock Swansea.

The ‘Woodbridge’ was acquired by the Swansea Pilotage Authority in 1951 for use as an auxiliary vessel to the pilot cutter ‘Roger Beck’. Formerly owned by Trinity House, the diesel-engined ‘Woodbridge’ had been built in the Aldous boatyard, Brightlingsea, Essex, in 1924. She was 80' long with a 21' beam and a draft of 10', and had a service speed of up to nine knots.
 

Left to right :- Keith Morgan, Chris Ward, Mike Jones, Garry Lewis, Warren Thomas, Ron Jones, Brian Thomas, Phil Jones, Robert Williams, Mathew Fisher, Steve Badcup and Frank Martin.