2. Of the Trinity House and its Jurisdiction, and the Cinque Port Pilots, p. 173. 3. Of the General Regulations of the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, respecting Pilotage Authorities and Pilotage, p. 174.

4. Of Compulsory Pilotage, p. 179.

5. What Vessels need not take a Pilot, p. 180.

6. Miscellaneous, p. 181.

7. Exemption of Owners and Masters from Liability in case of Loss or Damage, p. 181.

8. Jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty, p. 183.

9. Pilotage of Foreign Ships, p. 184.

1. Of Pilots generally.

THE name of pilot, or steersman, is applied either to a particular officer, serving on board a ship during the course of a voyage, and having the charge of the helm and of the ship's route; or to a person taken on board at a particular place for the purpose of conducting a ship through a river, road, or channel, or from or into a port. The French ordinance contains several regulations calculated to obtain the necessary skill and experience in persons of the first description (a). In this country there is no particular provision relating to them, and many ships are navigated without an officer of this description, the master taking upon himself the charge of the helm, and the conduct of the vessel.

Pilots of the second description are established at several places in this country by ancient charters of incorporation (b); and, in general, the master of a ship engaged in foreign trade must put his ship under the charge of such a pilot, both in his outward and homeward voyage, within the limits of every establishment (c). A detailed account of

(a) Liv. 2, tit. 4: Du Pilote.

(b) The Cinque Port Pilotage from Dover, Deal, and the Isle of Thanet, up the rivers Thames and Medway, was regulated by statutes 3 Geo. 1, c. 13, 7 Geo. 1, c. 21, and 43 Geo. 3, c. 152, revived and continued by 47 Geo. 3, stat. 2, c. 71, and 48 Geo. 3, c. 104, P. L. & P., the 6 Geo. 4, c. 125, 9 Geo. 4, c. 86, 3 & 4 Vict. c. 68, and 16 & 17 Vict. c. 129, by which the district from the westward of the landing place at Gravesend, or in the Medway westward of Stangate Creek, was taken from the Cinque Port Pilots, unless qualified and licensed under that Act. Pilotage down the Thames, and through the

North Channel, to or by Ordfordness, and round the Long-sand head into the Downs, and down the South Channel into the Downs, and from or by Ordfordness up the North Channel, and the Thames and Medway, by 5 Geo. 2, c. 20. Pilotage into and out of the port of Liverpool is regulated by 37 Geo. 3, c. 78, and 5 Geo. 4, c. 73; and the port of Hull, by 39 & 40 Geo. 3, c. 10, P. L. & P., 5 Geo. 4, c. 83.

(c) Law v. Hollingsworth, 7 Term Rep. K. B. 160; 52 Geo. 3, c. 39, s. 59. Phillips v. Headlam, 2 B. & Ad. 380. The William, 6 Rob. 316.

these establishments, and of the ports to which they relate, would be improper in a general treatise; and masters of vessels may easily acquaint themselves with the regulations on this subject, relating to the particular navigation in which they are employed.

2. Of the Trinity House and its Jurisdiction, and the Cinque Port Pilots.

The most important of these pilotage authorities is the corporation of the Trinity House, Deptford Strond (d).

With respect to the pilotage up the rivers Thames and Medway, it was enacted that it should be lawful for the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle, or his lieutenant, to appoint and license fit and competent persons, duly skilled as pilots, for the purpose of conducting all ships and vessels passing from or by Dungeness, up the rivers Thames and Medway, to London Bridge and Rochester Bridge, and their channels, creeks, and docks; and from the south buoy of the Brake, to the westward, as far as the west end of the Owers; and that within those limits such vessels should be conducted and piloted by such pilots, and by no others (e).

But the 16 & 17 Vict. c. 129, (still, as respects some of its sections, in force) (f), after reciting that it is expedient that the right of piloting ships outwards from the port of London and inwards to the same port should be subject to uniform authority and control, provided that the Trinity House (the jurisdiction of which, as respects the licensing of pilots, had before been confined to the Thames and Medway, and their channels, creeks, and docks, between Orfordness and London Bridge, and from London Bridge to the Downs, and from the Downs westward as far as the Isle of Wight, and in the English Channel from the Isle of Wight up to London Bridge) might license pilots for the passage from Dungeness inwards as well as outwards; that the existing Trinity House pilots might pilot ships inwards within the limits of their licenses; that the existing Cinque Port pilots should be subject to the same rules as the Trinity House pilots, and should be authorized to pilot vessels inwards or outwards in the limits for which they were then licensed (g).

The Trinity House may, in the exercise of the general power given to pilotage authorities, alter such of the provisions of the new Act as are expressed therein to be subject to alteration, in the same manner as they might have altered the same if they had been contained in any previous Act of Parliament (h).

(d) See 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, s. 39. (e) 6 Geo. 4, c. 125, s. 14.

(f) The act, except sections 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, and so much of section 9 as relates to the recovery of pilotage rates by Cinque Port pilots before the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120, came into operation, was repealed by this latter

statute, by which also it is enacted, s. 6, that
sects. 4 and 9 of the 16 & 17 Vict. c. 129, shall
be construed as if the fifth part of "The
Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," were therein
referred to instead of the 6 Geo. 4, c. 125.
(g) 16 & 17 Vict. c. 129, ss. 2-5,
(h) 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 368.

The Trinity House is empowered (as are also the Trinity Houses of Hull and Newcastle) (i) to appoint sub-commissioners for the examination of pilots, in all districts in which they have been used to make such appointments, and, with the consent of her Majesty in council as respects the Trinity House, for other districts in which no particular provision is made by Act of Parliament or charter for the appointment of pilots, and as respects the Hull and Newcastle Trinity Houses for other places within their jurisdiction (k).

The limits for which the Trinity House is empowered to license pilots are the London district, comprising the Thames and Medway as high as London and Rochester Bridges, and all the seas and channels leading thereto or therefrom, as far as Orfordness to the north, and Dungeness to the south; the English Channel district between Dungeness and the Isle of Wight; and the Trinity outport districts, comprising any pilotage district for the appointment of pilots within which no particular provision is made by charter or Act of Parliament (1).

No pilot shall be hereafter licensed to conduct ships both above and below Gravesend (m).

Notice of the names and abodes, and of the limits of the licenses of all pilots licensed by the Trinity House, are to be fixed up at its house in London, and copies thereof transmitted to the Commissioners of Customs in London and the outports, to be posted up by them at their respective Custom-houses (n).

Every Trinity House pilot shall execute on his appointment a bond for 100%., conditioned for the due observance on his part of the regulations and bye-laws of the Trinity House; and no qualified pilot, who has executed such bond, shall be liable for neglect or want of skill beyond its penalty and the amount of pilotage payable to him in respect of the voyage for which he is engaged (o).

The Trinity House has power to revoke or suspend the license of any pilot appointed by it (p). Such licenses continue only in force until the 31st day of January in the year next after their date, but may then be renewed by endorsement under the hand of the secretary of the Trinity House, or other person appointed by them for that purpose (g).

3. Cf the General Regulations of the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, respecting Pilotage Authorities and Pilotage.

By the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, it is provided that every pilotage authority within the United Kingdom (r) shall retain the powers

and jurisdiction which it now lawfully possesses, so far as the same are consistent with the provisions of that Act (s). It shall have power also, by bye-laws made with the consent of her Majesty in council, to exempt the masters of ships from being compelled to employ qualified pilots, on such terms and conditions as may appear desirable to it (t)-to determine from time to time within its districts the qualifications to be required of persons applying to be licensed as pilots-to make regulations as to the licensing of pilot boats and ships, and companies for their support-to make regulations for the good government and conduct of pilots licensed by it, the effective performance by them of their duty, and the terms and conditions on which licenses to pilots and apprentices, and pilotage certificates to masters and mates, may be granted, withdrawn, or suspended-to fix, alter and reduce the rates of pilotage-to make arrangements with any other pilotage authority for altering, extending, or restricting their respective limits, for the purpose of facilitating navigation, or reducing the rates on shipping-to establish, either alone or in conjunction with other pilotage authorities, funds for the relief of superannuated or infirm qualified pilots, or of their wives, widows, and children—and to repeal or alter any bye-laws made in exercise of the above powers, and make a new one in lieu thereof, notwithstanding any Act of Parliament, rule, law, or custom to the contrary (u). By the 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, s. 39, the Board of Trade is empowered by provisional order, which is not to take effect unless confirmed by parliament, to prepare schemes to be afterwards embodied by them in public general bills, for effecting the objects contemplated by these enactments, and for further amending the law concerning pilotage, with a due regard to existing interests, and to the circumstances of each particular case, and for this purpose,

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(1.) Whenever any pilotage authority residing or having its place of business at one port has or exercises jurisdiction in matters of pilotage in any other port, to transfer so much of the said jurisdiction as concerns such last-mentioned port, to any harbour trust or other body exercising any local jurisdiction in maritime matters at the last-mentioned port, or to any body to be constituted for the purpose by the provisional order, or, in cases where the said pilotage authority is not the Trinity House of Deptford Strond, to the said Trinity House; or to transfer the whole or any part of the jurisdiction of the said pilotage authority to a new body corporate or body of persons to be constituted for the purpose by the provisional order, so as to represent the interests of the several ports concerned:

(2.) To make the body corporate or persons to whom the said transfer is made a pilotage authority within the meaning of

(*) Sect. 331.

(t) Sect. 332.

(u) Sect. 333.

the principal Act, with such powers for the purpose as may be in the provisional order in that behalf mentioned:

To determine the limits of the district of the pilotage authority to which the transfer of jurisdiction is made:

To sanction a scale of pilotage rates to be taken by the pilots to be licensed by the last-mentioned pilotage authority: To determine to what extent and under what conditions any pilots already licensed by the former pilotage authority shall continue to act under the new pilotage authority:

To sanction arrangements for the apportionment of any pilotage funds belonging to the pilots licensed by the former pilotage authority between the pilots remaining under the jurisdiction of that authority, and the pilots who are transferred to the jurisdiction of the new authority:

To provide for such compensation or superannuation as may be just to officers employed by the former pilotage authority and not continued by the new authority:

(3.) To constitute a pilotage authority and to fix the limits of its district in any place in the United Kingdom where there is no such authority; so, however, that in the new pilotage districts so constituted there shall be no compulsory pilotage, and no restriction on the power of duly qualified persons to obtain licenses as pilots.

(4.) To exempt the masters and owners of all ships, or of any classes of ships, from being obliged to employ pilots in any pilotage district or in any part of any pilotage district, or from being obliged to pay for pilots when not employing them in any district or in any part of any pilotage district, and to annex any terms and conditions to such exemptions :

(5.) In cases where the pilotage is not compulsory, and where there is no restriction on the power of duly qualified persons to obtain licenses as pilots, to enable any pilotage authority to license pilots and fix pilotage rates for any part of the district within the jurisdiction of such authority for which no such licenses or rates now exist:

(6.) In cases where the pilotage is not compulsory, and where there is no restriction on the power of duly qualified persons to obtain licenses as pilots, to enable any pilotage authority to raise all or any of the pilotage rates now in force in the district or any part of the district within the jurisdiction of such authority:

(7.) In cases where the pilotage is not compulsory, and where there is no restriction on the number of pilots, or on the power of duly qualified persons to obtain licenses as pilots, to give additional facilities for the recovery of pilotage rates and for the prevention of the employment of unqualified pilots:

(8.) To give facilities for enabling duly qualified persons, after