COWES PILOTS, 1808In 1808 Trinity House took over the examination and licensing of pilots. The local Customs officer in each outport ( i.e. outside London ) made a return of pilots working there at that date; the Cowes return includes pilots from all areas of the Island. For the future it was recommended that 35 First Class and 35 Second Class pilots should be licensed so that one of each could go in each boat. The men were examined by using the questions normally used to ascertain the competency of masters of men of war in the Navy, along with questions on the coast and localities they would be covering - headlands, bearings, buoys, depths of water and distances. The names of persons "notoriously following the smuggling traffic and no other pursuit" were not among those recommended. The Trinity House records are held at the Guildhall Library in London which has a leaflet for family historians listing the types of records available for pilots, masters and mates who were licensed to be their own pilots, lighthouse keepers, alms-people and pensioners, watermen (on the Thames) and the ships' apprentices from Christ's Hospital Mathematical School; the 1808 list of pilots already working in the outports has the reference Ms 30193. As some pilot boats were absent from port there are names amongst those subsequently recommended who do not appear on this list; also three first class numbers (33 - 35) were left open "for 3 respectable Pilots who have pursued the employ from childhood but present engagements induce to postpone examination". Those names with * were recommended for First Class and, with the exception of William Corke who was a master, they were all owners of their boats (I have the names and tonnages if you are interested); those with ** were recommended for Second Class. I have added the names of those not on the original list at the end. Were the all ones who were not recommended involved in smuggling, or were they just incompetent ? Square brackets are used where I think there might be a mistake in the copying [ mine or theirs ] resulting in differences between the lists; as with all transcripts of documents in which you are interested you should always check the original.
Ms 30174 ( Outport Pilots 1808 - 1846 ) gives a physical description of pilots on their appointment or promotion e.g. James SOUTHCOTT, Ryde, aged 37, 5'6" tall, fair complexion, light hair was appointed 2nd class No 25 17 Feb 1813 and promoted 1st class No 41 20 Nov 1816. © 2001 Isle of Wight Family History Society journal |
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