the officer who superintends the navigation, either upon the sea-coast or on the main ocean. It is, however, more particularly applied by our mariners to the person charged with the direction of a ship's course on or near the sea-coast, and into the roads, bays, rivers, havens, &c., within his respective district.
Pilots of ships, taking upon them to conduct any ship from Dover, &c., to any place up the river Thames, are to be first examined and approved by the master and wardens of the society of Trinity House, &c., or shall forfeit 10l. for the first offence, 20l. for the second, and 40l. for every other offence; one moiety to the informer, the other to the master and wardens; but any master or mate of a ship may pilot his own vessel up the river: and if any ship be lost through the negligence of any pilot, he shall be for ever after disallowed to act as a pilot. 3 Geo. I. c. 13. Also the lord-warden of the cinque ports may make rules for the government of pilots, and order a sufficient number to ply at sea to conduct ships up to the Thames: 7 Geo. I. c. 21. No person shall act as a pilot on the Thames, &c. (except in collier ships) without a licence from the master and wardens of Trinity House at Deptford, on pain of forfeiting 20l. And pilots are to be subject to the government of that corporation; and pay ancient dues, not exceeding 1s. in the pound, out of wages, for the use of the poor thereof. Stat. 5 Geo. II. c. 20.
By the former laws of France, no person could be received as pilot till he had made several voyages and passed a strict examination; and after that, on his return in long voyages, he was obliged to lodge a copy of his journal in the admiralty; and if a pilot occasioned the loss of a ship, he had to pay 100 livres fine, and to be for ever deprived of the exercise of pilotage; and if he did so designedly, be punished with death. Lex Mercat. 79, 71.
The laws of Oleron ordain, That if any pilot designedly misguide a ship, that it may be cast away, he shall be put to a rigorous death, and hung in chains: and if the lord of a place, where a ship be thus lost, abet such villains in order to have a share of the wreck, he shall be apprehended, and all his goods forfeited for the satisfaction of the persons suffering; and his person shall be fastened to a stake in the midst of his own mansion, which, being fired on the four corners, shall be burned to the ground, and he with it. Leg. Ol. c. 25. And if the fault of a pilot be so notorious, that the ship's crew see an apparent wreck, they may lead him to the hatches, and strike off his head; but the common law denies this hasty execution: an ignorant pilot is sentenced to pass thrice under the ship's keel by the laws of Denmark. Lex Mercat. 70.
The regulations with regard to pilots in the royal navy are as follow: "The commanders of the king's ships, in order to give all reasonable encouragement to so useful a body of men as pilots, and to remove all their ob- jections to his majesty's service, are strictly charged to treat them with good usage, and an equal respect with warrant-officers.
"The purser of the ship is always to have a set of bedding provided on board for the pilots; and the captain is to order the boatswain to supply them with hammocks, and a convenient place to lie in, near their duty, and apart from the common men; which bedding and hammocks are to be returned when the pilots leave the ship.
"A pilot, when conducting one of his majesty's ships in pilot-water, shall have the sole charge and command of the ship, and may give orders for steering, setting, trimming, or furling the sails; tacking the ship; or whatever concerns the navigation: and the captain is to take care that all the officers and crew obey his orders. But the captain is diligently to observe the conduct of the pilot; and if he judges him to behave so ill as to bring the ship into danger, he may remove him from the command and charge of the ship, and take such methods for her preservation as shall be judged necessary; remarking upon the log book, the exact hour and time when the pilot was removed from his office, and the reasons assigned for it.
"Captains of the king's ships, employing pilots in foreign parts of his majesty's dominions, shall, after performance of the service, give a certificate thereof to the pilot, which being produced to the proper naval officer, he shall cause the same to be immediately paid; but if there be no naval-officer there, the captain of his majesty's ship shall pay him, and send the proper vouchers, with his bill, to the navy-board, in order to be paid as bills of exchange.
"Captains of his majesty's ships, employing foreign pilots to carry the ships they command into or out of foreign ports, shall pay them the rates due by the establishment or custom of the country, before they discharge them: whose receipts being duly vouched, and sent, with a certificate of the service performed, to the navy-board, they shall cause them to be paid with the same exactness as they do bills of exchange." Regulations and Instructions of the Sea Service, &c.