Pilots II

PILOTS The World of Pilotage Under Sail and Oar Volume 2 Schooners and Open Boats of the European Pilots and Watermen The first volume of Pilots concentrated on the stories of American and British schooners. Volume 2 enters what for many will be a less familiar world... that of the remarkable pilot brigs and the small undecked craft. Schooners range from the Hiates of Portugal to the beautiful station boats of the North Sea ports of Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, and France. The development of the schooners themselves into such highly sophisticated craft as the Orphie of Dunkirk is traced from regional predecessors typified by the Dunkirk Korver and the Rinkelaar from The Netherlands. Volume 2 of Pilots is not just about boats--the sailors also have their role. The book follows highly difficult maneuvers under sail, dangerous transfers at sea, the routine of everyday life, and the perils of heavy weather including ships wrecked and lives saved. All aspects of a spectacular and previously unpublished maritime tradition are considered, not forgetting the question of competition. European pilots, in general, preferred to operate as organized bodies to avoid the results of excessive rivalry. Nonetheless, crews still wanted to be the best, and when different nationalities worked the same stretch of water, in particular the Scheldt between Belgium and Holland, the inevitable disagreements could erupt into violence. Table of Contents: Pilot Schooners From Europe Germany: The North Sea Coast - Elbe - Weser - Jade - Ems The Netherlands: From Rinkelaar to Schooner Belgium: Antwerp - Ostend - Nieuport Dunkirk: From Korver to Schooner Portugal: Lisbon's Muletas and Hiates Pilot Brigs Calcutta: The Hooghly Pilot Brigs Open Boats of Pilots and Waterman Southeast England: The Deal Luggers Southeast England: The North Channel Yawls of East Anglia Northeast England: The Humber Dusters -The Northeast Pilot Coble - The Tyne Foyboatmen Scotland: Pilots and Pilot Boats of the Scottish Coast Northwest England: The Pilot Punts of Famine Point - The Mersey Gigs Ireland: Small-Craft Pilotage 347 pp., hardcover 10 x13" hundreds of beautiful illustrations ISBN # 0-937822-76-0 Cover art: a full-rigged ship approaches the Elbe lightship No 2, Caspar. In such weather her master will be relieved to see the whaleboat carrying the pilot pulling bravely out to him.