Piloting During WW2

January 20th, 2004 by JCB
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Pilotage in Liverpool during the Second World War

A summary by R.F. Youde Licensed Liverpool pilot 1936 -1975

On the outbreak of war it was ordered that all leave for pilots was cancelled and no pilot would be granted leave of absence to join the fighting services. Pilotage in Liverpool was declared a reserved occupation by order of the War Cabinet, however, there was an instance of an apprentice-pilot who joined the Royal Air Force, was commissioned with “wings” and served as an instructor in flight navigation.  The Pilot-boat on the Western Station at Point Lynas was ordered to proceed to a position near the North West Light-Float and to keep her station there, about seven miles to the west of the Bar Lightship. In that position she continued to serve ships approaching Liverpool from the south and around the Welsh coast, while the Bar Pilot boat maintained her usual station near to the entrance to Queens Channel, the main channel which leads into the Mersey.  Navigation in the Mersey was suspended during the hours of darkness due to the restrictions which were placed on lighting until well after the severe blitz of May 1940.

An Examination Service was set-up on the Bar pilot-boat, comprising Royal Naval commissioned ranks, NCOs and other ranks. Accommodation was cramped and there were instances of Royal Naval officers taking exception to being obliged to live and eat with other ranks. After the fall of France, the Royal Navy managed to produce a pilot-boat from Holland for the Examination Service. This made life much easier for the pilots and crew of the Bar pilot-boat.

At the outbreak of war there were 145 licensed pilots. This number was considered to be insufficient to meet the unforeseeable problems which were known would lie ahead. Twenty men were recruited from outside the Liverpool Pilot Service. They had either served as pilots in other ports, including London, Southampton, and Preston, or else were Masters or Mates who had held Pilotage Exemption Certificates for the Mersey. The Pilotage Authority also invited Second Class Liverpool Pilots (then limited to 2,000 tons net) to apply to be examined for a 4,000 ton-limit licence, to be held until completion of the normal qualifying period for a First-Class licence, which was then an unrestricted licence.

It was ordered by the Marine Surveyor and Water Bailiff for the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board that the Mersey should be partitioned into anchorages which were effectively designated as specific parking lots. Circles were printed in red ink on the chart from the Rock Lighthouse as far south as water would permit any anchorage at low water. Each parking lot was numbered and was useful for tugs and river-launches in ascertaining where particular ships were anchored.

A principle difficulty was in the matter of communication. In most circumstances the only possible means was by Morse lamp or by hailing through a megaphone. In many cases, ships were routed to Liverpool for orders but had not been given specific docking instructions. Very often this would lead to a ship missing the tide which she could otherwise have made if only the necessary arrangements had been known and, in consequence, space would be taken up in the anchorages.

When a convoy was preparing to sail it was usual for some of the ships to undock and anchor in the river and then wait for the rest of the fleet to join them by undocking on the following tide, as there might well have been too many ships to undock all at once on the same tide. This would add to the congestion in the anchorages and, if a convoy was due in on the next day and perhaps did not catch the tide, there would be further addition to the congestion.

When the air-raids became heavier and more frequent after the fall of France, the enemy began to drop magnetic mines which lay on the sea-bed and could not be seen from the surface by ships navigating the river and channels. To combat this, a fleet of HM minesweepers were detailed to be first to sail from the Mersey to sweep the Main Channels and Western Approaches.  On one occasion the Pilot-boat was ordered to proceed to sea before the minesweepers, which gave rise to much concern aboard the cutter. The order was questioned and rectified.

As far as I can recall, three ships were mined and sunk in the river, with one in the Main Channel and one just outside it.  The property on both sides of the river took a very heavy pounding, but the Port itself was never closed due to enemy action. The Princes Landing Stage and the Ferry Stages remained usable. The lock gates and river entrances were never put out of action, with the exception of Hornby-lock, the use of which could be avoided by alternative routes within the dock system.

As to the Royal Navy, there was no change in the law which provides that HM ships are exempt from compulsory pilotage; and no change in the custom and practice of the Royal Navy to engage the service of Liverpool pilots in most circumstances. Relations between the Royal Navy and the Pilot Service were conducted properly and professionally by all concerned and it is probably fair to say that mutual respect and regard between the two organisations was probably never higher than at that time. Duty was the watchword: and every man knew that England expected nothing less.

R. F. Youde