PUGET SOUND PILOTS and their orange and white boats going to and from large ships transiting the Strait of Juan de Fuca has been a common sight for many years for those of us ashore.
On closer view, seeing these professionals clinging to boarding ladders that are rigged over the sides of the moving ships to embark and disembark the big vessels instills the notion that this is not a vocation for the faint of heart.
On Wednesday afternoon, I received an up-close and personal view.
I went aboard the pilot boat, Juan de Fuca, and witnessed first hand a careful and confident pilot, Capt. Eric Von Brandenfels, board the container ship, Hanjin Ottawa, bound for Seattle.
Capt. Eric has been a Puget Sound Pilot since 1995 and currently serves as the vice president of the Puget Sound Pilots Association.
Before becoming a pilot, he served as a mate on a crab boat in the Bering Sea and worked on tugs for Crowley and Sea Coast Towing on the Columbia River and throughout the Pacific Northwest, including Canadian waters.
Sitting in the pilots’ station on Ediz Hook waiting to get under way, Capt. Eric spoke at length about his craft.
Pilots work in shifts of 15 days on and 13 days off, and in that time each will average about one ship boarding a day.
Pilots are also called upon to shift a ship’s berth within harbors and from pier to pier. They are required to have six hours off between ship movements to give themselves time to rest, debrief and prepare for their next assignment.
Capt. Eric explained that piloting is all about risk mitigation — not only for the ships’ owners but for the consignees of cargo, the people of the state who have a stake in the waterways, other vessels and the environment.
From all over the world
Ships from all corners of the world come into the ports along Puget Sound.
Many times, the ships’ captains have never been in these waters; at other times they have only been in the Sound a few times.
It is impossible for these individuals to possess recent knowledge of local waters that is only gleaned from daily exposure to the ever-changing shoreline, constantly shifting ocean floor and manmade encroachments.
There are 55 individuals who comprise the corps of pilots in Puget Sound and the Strait.
They collectively represent more than 700 years of experience piloting ships in the region’s waters.
When not onboard to guide a ship past Dungeness Spit, through Admiralty Inlet and into the Sound, they can be found huddled together discussing the various and changing nuances of every waterway they observe on a daily basis.
They also share their intimate knowledge of the capabilities of the different tugs called upon to assist in a ship’s movement, including specifics about their crews.
Getting under way
Just before 1 p.m. Wednesday, we boarded Juan de Fuca with Andy Dreyer, the boat driver, Robert Shelton, chief engineer, and Jeffrey Rushton, the deck hand and assistant engineer.
We made our way out of Port Angeles Harbor at about 6 knots.
Once we cleared Ediz Hook, Andy kicked it up a couple notches and scooted across calm waters to chase down the Hanjin Ottawa, a 915-foot container ship owned by Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. and flying the German flag.
With the ship looming ever larger, Andy handed the wheel to Jeffrey and made his way to the port side of the flying bridge.
As Andy approached the eastbound ship, he positioned the pilot boat below the boarding ladder.
Outfitted in a life jacket, his blond hair blowing in the breeze and a satchel hung around his shoulders and resting on his back, Capt. Eric stepped off the deck of the pilot boat onto the boarding ladder with the apparent ease of one stepping onto an escalator — wary yet confident.
He made his way about halfway up the overhanging ladder and then stepped onto the platform of an accommodation ladder and walked up to the main deck.
At the instant the transfer was made, Andy eased the Juan de Fuca away from the ship.
In the event Capt. Eric fell, he would land in the water and not onto the deck of the pilot boat.
There is a far greater likelihood of an injury-free survival if a pilot has a misstep and lands in the water as opposed to hitting the boat and breaks who-knows-what bones in a mishap.
I was reminded of my conversation with Sandi Olsborg of Chimacum, who recounted the story of her father, Gunnar Olsborg, a Puget Sound Pilot from the 1940s to the SSRq80s.
He fell onto the deck of a pilot boat during a transfer in rough seas and was saved by the quick thinking of another pilot who was able to grab him and keep him from falling over the side into the water.
Sandi said her father returned to piloting after recovering from his injuries, first in the hospital and then at home.
Rescue demonstration
Returning to the pilot station, the boat crew aboard the Juan de Fuca demonstrated its quick-response procedure for rescuing a wet pilot.
Andy took the boat up to 24.5 knots and did an emergency stop by reversing the Hamilton Jet Drives, which caused the boat to all but stand on her bow as she came to a complete stop — I was floored, figuratively and literally.
The boat is designed to stop in 1 ½ times its length.
At 75 feet long, the Juan de Fuca will come to a dead stop in fewer than 115 feet.
Very impressive!
Jeffrey then took me to the aft deck and showed me how the man-lift worked.
The apparatus is two rectangles built of tubing, each interlaced with webbing similar to that of a lawn chair and joined together on one long side.
Picture a big webbed couch with no feet or arm rests.
It is attached to the stern of the boat, and when not in use it is folded up like a sheet of paper.
When in use, the outboard half folds down to form a 90-degree angle that can be dropped 8 feet into the water.
Jeffrey or the on-duty deck hand operates the hydraulic mechanism, and coupled with the boat handling skills of the driver, he scoops up the drenched pilot.
Jeffrey said they practice with a dummy throughout the year and have even practiced with volunteers who don survival suits and get into the water.
Jeffrey said the specter of using the man-lift is akin to a police officer who hopes to go an entire career without ever drawing a weapon.
He is comforted in the knowledge the rescue equipment is available — and hopes the need for its use never arises.
Protecting waterways
Every year, thousands of ships slip in and out of Puget Sound, and the vast majority of them are accompanied by a Puget Sound Pilot.
Their specialized knowledge keep our waterways safe and help to preserve the environment.
The perilous nature of their work demands that they remain vigilant and not only of life and limb — one ill-timed maneuver can doom a ship and its cargo, and abruptly end a pilot’s career, taint his reputation and cause his financial ruin.
As I said at the beginning of this column — the vocation is not for the faint of heart.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the waterfront.
Items involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. E-mail dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-417-3736.
His column, On the Waterfront, appears every Sunday.
