Portcities London

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Maritime London Partnership

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Trinity House

Pepys and the pilots

Samuel Pepys, Master of Trinity House in 1685. © NMM

In 1687 the Corporation was also given permission to test these pilots after Samuel Pepys' visit to Spain. Pepys' involvement with the Admiralty had won him the position of Younger Brother in 1662. He later became Master of Trinity House in 1685.

In the previous year, Pepys had gone to Spain to study the Spanish system of examination. Aspiring pilots were questioned on their knowledge of navigation and sea management. Only the best would achieve a certificate of competence and become pilots.

Charter to test new pilots

The Royal Charter granted to Trinity House in 1685 by King James II. © NMM

Pepys' report was accepted by James II who acknowledged it in a new Charter in 1685.

It was entitled, 'The Royal Charter of confirmation, granted by His most Excellent Majesty King James II, to the Trinity-House of Deptford-Strond, for the government and encrease of the navigation of England'.

The front page of the charter is shown here.

King James II (1685-88). © NMM

King James' charter also permitted Trinity House to set its own rates of pilotage and to examine masters for the Royal Navy.

On 24 February 1696, Ambrose Marshall became the first recorded pilot to receive his licence.

It allowed him to cover the area down the Thames as far as Gravesend. 

Pilotage districts

Trinity House ketch Vigilant. © NMM

These regions were known as 'Districts' and included Southampton, Milford Haven and Falmouth. This photograph is of the Trinity House ketch Vigilant. Built in 1879 and weighing 70 tons, Vigilant was used as a pilot vessel on the River Thames.

Payments for services

Receipt for Trinity House dues, 11 December 1810. © NMM

Shown here is a receipt, dated 11 December 1810, for pilotage dues of £8 10 shillings (£8.50) payable to Trinity House from the ship Aeolus.

Trinity House Pilot Boat 121. © NMM

Pilots' uniforms

Trinity House pilot's cap. © NMM

Trinity House pilots wore a distinctive uniform. The two images here show a pilot's cap and jacket. The cap has a white cotton cover and the Trinity House badge with gold laurel on the peak.

Captain Henry Austin Fraser's Trinity House pilot jacket. © NMM

This jacket, which has eight buttons, belonged to Captain Henry Austin Fraser who served in both world wars. For his services, Fraser received:

• the Mercantile Marine Medal 1914-18
• the Victory Medal
• the 1939-45 Star
• the Atlantic Star
• the Africa Star
• the Burma Star
• the 1939-45 War Medal
• an OBE (Order of the British Empire).

The medal ribbons can be seen on the left breast of the jacket.

John Foot, pilot

John Foot joined the Trinity House Pilot service in 1967. He was posted as a junior pilot based on the Isle of Thanet, dealing with small ships bound for London from near the Continent. In addition he managed the traffic in and out of Ramsgate and Whitstable. 

Foot recalled:

Ramsgate posed the biggest challenge, and it is amusing to reflect that a pilot with the least experience was thrown into the deep end when bringing a ship into this small port in adverse conditions. A Thames pilot's recollections (Ramsgate). Players: Realplayer 5 | Quicktime 4 Need help with audio? View Transcription A vessel was boarded about a mile off the port and the first job was to reassure the worried Captain that the entrance was not as narrow as he feared. Round the fairway buoy, and then N.N.E aiming at the port hand pierhead as the strong N.E. going tide swept across the entrance. Some speed had to be maintained, for once the bow was inside, in still water, the stern rapidly closed the starboard pierhead. Once inside the Royal Harbour, one could sense the Captain's relief, and it was only when shaping up for the narrow lock entrance that he would realise the ordeal was not yet over. The usual practice was to steer her straight through with fenders at the ready and fingers crossed. With the lock negotiated, another tight turn in the inner basin and, at last, the berth.

On another occasion, Foot boarded a small ship of the North Foreland during foul mid-winter weather:

At the red flashing East Margate buoy, course was set for the Princes Channel en route for London. With the wind abeam, vessel rolling heavily, and the treacherous Margate Sands, a lee shore to port. Not an unusual situation – the visibility was good even though the conditions were uncomfortable. A Thames pilot's recollections (North Foreland) Players: Realplayer 5 | Quicktime 4 Need help with audio? View Transcription But I was soon to be reminded that only constant vigilance will achieve safety. Unknown to me, the ship was loaded with steel coils and the magnetic compass was registering an error of thirty degrees. I had not double-checked our course and it was not until the vessel was surrounded by white seething foam that I realised we were about to go ashore on the Margate Sands. Starboard, and more starboard and slowly, so slowly, the vessel clawed away from danger. A very close call, and a situation for which I alone was responsible. Had the ship been stranded, possibly lost, and within site of my home, there would have followed a visit to Trinity House, a six month 'holiday' or perhaps worse.

End of a tradition

Scenes from pilotage in the Channel. © NMM

This 1885 image illustrates several scenes from the life of a pilot. The scenes include:

• a pilot vessel in rough sea
• sending a pilot on board a steamer
• showing a signal flare.

Pilot Hoist on a Union Castle vessel. © NMM

Although no longer responsible for local pilotage, Trinity House is still authorised to license deep sea pilots. These often join a vessel off Brixham and stay onboard the whole time the vessel is trading in the continental area. The pilot will only leave when the ship passes Brixham on its outward journey. This 1965 image shows a deep sea pilot being winched on board a Union Castle steamer.

Vagabond leaving Harwich Pier, 31 March 1986. © NMM

• Masters and Deputy Masters of Trinity House
• The Tudor and Stuart port
• The 18th-century port
• The 19th-century port
• The 20th-century port
• Henry VIII
• Sir Thomas Spert
• Elizabeth I
• Samuel Pepys
• Duke of Wellington
• Grace Darling