From an earlier article:
The 220,000-ton, 400-metre-long Ever Given – a so-called megaship operated by the Taiwan-based firm Evergreen – became stuck near the southern end of the canal on Tuesday. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said it had lost the ability to steer amid high winds and a dust storm.
Ok, while I qualified a an Officer of the Deck Underway and had my own bridge watch team, I am not exactly Joe ship handler....it takes years.
I am sure there was a Suez Canal Pilot onboard...every time the ships I sailed on entered a port, a canal or severely restricted waterway, a local, highly experienced pilot is on the bridge. They know the water better than any transient ships company. I bet it is the same for commercial vessels for insurance purposes.
The local pilots make serious coinage.
The most embarrassing moment in my Navy career was having to give up the Deck of the ship to the XO of the ship while we were pulling into Manama, Bahrain.
It was a very windy day, receding tide, unfamiliar spot on the pier...I was in over my ship handling head. Big ship, btw, with a very large cross section that, like a container ship, acts like a sail.
The local pilot, a Bahraini, looks at me, looks at the XO (a SWO and a great ship handler) and asks me to relieve the ship to the XO.
Thank god. I am sure the CO and XO were seconds away from the same decision, but I could not have been happier to say out loud, "Attention in the Pilot House. the XO has the Con".
Harder than it looks, trust me.
