History of The Maryland Pilots
The Association of Maryland Pilots represent the interests of Maryland, often filling a leadership role on many committees dealing with navigation safety, channel design, dredging, and port security at the federal, state, and local levels.
Harbingers of Hope
The first English passengers voyaging to the Southern Colonies found their first relief not in the sighting of land, but in the sight of a ship's mast- the mast of a Maryland pilot schooner. Those passengers (adventurers, debtors, those seeking religious freedoms) heard the New World first in the call of an Eastern Shore Pilot offering to guide the heavily laden English ships through the shoals and into safe harbor on the Chesapeake Bay. To the passengers this call meant the voyage was finally ending, and a new life of unlimited opportunities was beginning. To the crew, it meant a bit of rest in the ports of St. Mary's County and Annapolis. To the Captain, the call meant relief from the fear of running aground and the unpredictability of the Bay. While this harbinger of land was new to the passengers, it had become familiar to the veterans of the Atlantic passage. Always when approaching the Bay they were on the lookout for a pilot schooner.
Maryland Pilots had been serving England's huge merchant fleet for nearly a century by the mid-1700s. Colonial records mention the Pilots providing safe, reliable and efficient service as early as 1640. In fact, piloting was one of the first professions practiced in the colonies.
Regulation
The Royal Government was never able to tax or license the profession, which explains why laws governing the Pilots were among the items discussed and enacted by Maryland’s first General Assembly in 1787. Those acts mark the beginning of the accountability of all Pilots to the citizens of Maryland as opposed to a foreign king in the 1700s or a foreign shipping company today. The Maryland General Assembly, as recently as April 2000, continued the service and guardian role of Maryland Pilots by enacting laws regulating commercial vessels. The General Assembly created the State Board of Docking Pilots and at the same time recognized the Association of Maryland Docking Pilots. The Association of Maryland Pilots was formed in 1852 and was the first State legislated association of Pilots in the United States. On January 1, 2005, Maryland passed legislation that allowed for the merging of the Bay Pilots’ and Docking Pilots' associations into a single Association of Maryland Pilots.
Today, the Association of Maryland Pilots is a thriving organization that includes 65 active Pilots, 40 retired pilots and widows, and 50 employees, all doing their share to make life on the Chesapeake Bay safe and productive!
