Mackey Francis - Aftershock: the Halifax explosion and the persecution of pilot Francis Mackey

It has been said of the native people, upon the arrival of Champlain, that they approached his vessel in their canoes leading the way in to Saint John and warning of the dangers of the Reversing Falls at the mouth of the river. In effect, the native people of the area were indeed the first pilots here.
Shes All Yours Mr. Pilot: The Marine Pilots of Saint John, Captain Donald Duffy and Neil McKelvey, O . C . , Q . C .

M arine pilotage is one of the oldest professions in the world, with references to pilots found in some of the earliest recorded history. In Europe, a pilot was originally known as a lodesman, derived from lodestone, a naturally occurring magnet that was used as an early compass. The word pilot evolved from Dutch terminology describing a plumb lead used for measuring the depth of water. But the first marine pilots in Atlantic Canada were undoubtedly the Mikmaq.

Over their many thousands of years in this region, the Mikmaq navigated their sea canoes through the coastal waters of Atlantic Canada. They were known to travel in the Bay of Fundy and the Northumberland Strait, to cross the Cabot Strait between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and to spend summers in the sheltered fishing grounds of Bedford Basin and Halifax Harbour. The first European observers of their skill believed the Mikmaq were guided by instinct, but it surely had more to do with the peoples local knowledge of currents, tides, and navigational hazards. This local knowledge remains at the core of marine pilotage to this day.

A pilot schooner in Purcells Cove, 1890.

ATLANTIC PILOTAGE AUTHORITY

Early explorers often used the skills of the Mikmaq to pilot their ships into these uncharted waters. However, when Edward Cornwallis arrived to establish Halifax in 1749, he was not able to take advantage of the local knowledge of the Mikmaw people, likely because of their allegiance to the French forces at that time. His ship, the Sphinx , stayed offshore because there was no pilot to help guide it into the harbour. On June 21, a full week later, a passing ship en route from Boston to Louisbourg was hailed, and it was found there were two pilots on board. One of these mariners piloted the Sphinx into port. Within a year, a pilotage service was established in Halifax. It remained unregulated, however, until 1826, when the legislative assembly of the colony passed an act regulating pilotage and requiring pilots to successfully pass a licensing examination.

During the First World War the volume of vessel traffic in Halifax Harbour increased tremendously, while the number of pilots available remained stable. Pilots saw their workloads double or, in some cases, triple during the war. One pilot, who kept a meticulous diary of his activity, had more pilotage assignments in 1917 alone than he had in the four-year period from 1911 through 1914 inclusive.

Two pilot schooners, owned jointly by active and retired pilots and the estates of deceased pilots, were used in Halifax as pilot boats in 1917 . The pilots earnings for each month would be divided in equal shares after providing one and a half shares to the operation of the pilot boats. Manned by apprentice pilots, an engineer, a cook, and seamen, these schooners were designed to accommodate approximately fifteen persons at a time. The ships would take turns on duty, week about, with one schooner staying near the pilot boarding station and the other being berthed in the harbour. Small tenders manned by the crew of the pilot schooner transferred pilots to and from ships.

The pilots worked on a roster system and, after taking a ship out of the harbour, would stay on the pilot schooner until their turn came to pilot a ship back in. During peacetime, with both less vessel activity and urgency, the pilots would often enjoy some off-duty time at home with their families in between assignments. During the First World War, however, with the exception of occasional lulls in activity, all pilots were expected to be on duty.

With marine radio communication being in its infancy in 1917, pilots had to rely on audible and visual cues such as steam whistles, signals, and flags to determine what course an oncoming vessel was intending to steer. The propulsion systems on ships at that time would be considered very rudimentary today: most had steam engines or steam turbines driving a single propeller. And radar and electronic navigation systems were, of course, many years away. As for navigational aids, pilots had to rely on lighthouses, leading lights, and local landmarks to allow them to safely maneuver a vessel.