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Sandy Hook Pilots
Sandy Hook Pilots are licensed maritime pilots that are members of the Sandy Hook Pilots Association for the Port of New York and New Jersey, the Hudson River, and Long Island Sound. Sandy Hook pilots guide oceangoing vessels, passenger liners, freighters, and tankers in and out of the harbor. The peninsulas of Sandy Hook, and Rockaway in Lower New York Bay define the southern entrance to the port at the Atlantic Ocean.
The Sandy Hook pilots have been piloting ships in the New York Harbor for over 300 years and can be traced back to 1694. The group of men and women ensure safe passage for ships going through The Narrows, which is one of the entrances into the harbors of the Port of New York and New Jersey.
Lying below the surface of the bay and extending from the tip of Sandy Hook to the south shore of Long Island is a series of shoals that separate New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary from the deeper waters of the Atlantic; known as the Bar of Sandy Hook. For over three centuries the mariners tasked with guiding the ships across this bar have been known as Sandy Hook pilots.
As the port of New York-New Jersey grew and the ships evolved so did the role of the pilot and the craft with which he used to ply his trade. The earliest pilots were employed as explorers, tasked with sounding and surveying the harbors for their respective European governments. Henry Hudson used his pijl lood for three days from the deck of the Halve Maen sounding and charting the Lower Bay. The channel he found lay close to the spit of land called Sant Hoek; known today as Sandy Hook. The English term pilot comes from the two Dutch words pijl (pole) and lood (lead). The early colonist of Manhattan Island, kept a whaleboat at Sandy Hook, ready to place a pilot aboard incoming vessels.
After two major shipwrecks in 1836, it became apparent that service for vessels entering and departing the port was necessary. A committee of merchants and citizens organized a small group of local seamen to assist the ship masters coming into the port.
The sailor on the great Seal of New York City holds in his hand the traditional tool of the pilot; the lead. This is a testament to the importance of the craft to early New Yorkers. Over the seventeenth century as populations increased, pilotage became a more local profession. The need for local knowledge of tides, currents, shoals, and navigational hazards prompted this change. On March 9, 1694 legislation passed by the Colony of New York appointed the first local mariners as Sandy Hook pilots.
Throughout the colonial period pilotage continued to develop. In 1718 competition began to be recognized as a problem; legislation was enacted to punish those who would pose as a pilot by fines or seizure of property. By 1763 the Board of Wardens was created to regulate and license pilots and to strengthen compulsory pilotage established by early acts. When the first American president, George Washington, arrived in Elizabeth, New Jersey he boarded a stately ceremonial barge rowed by thirteen pilots in white uniforms to the Battery for his inauguration.
In 1784 the New York legislature recognized and strengthened state pilotage law. Under this legislation Zachary Rusler became the first New York State-licensed Sandy Hook Pilot. His license was signed by Governor George Clinton.
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Sandy Hook Pilots
Sandy Hook Pilots are licensed maritime pilots that are members of the Sandy Hook Pilots Association for the Port of New York and New Jersey, the Hudson River, and Long Island Sound. Sandy Hook pilots guide oceangoing vessels, passenger liners, freighters, and tankers in and out of the harbor. The peninsulas of Sandy Hook, and Rockaway in Lower New York Bay define the southern entrance to the port at the Atlantic Ocean.
The Sandy Hook pilots have been piloting ships in the New York Harbor for over 300 years and can be traced back to 1694. The group of men and women ensure safe passage for ships going through The Narrows, which is one of the entrances into the harbors of the Port of New York and New Jersey.
Lying below the surface of the bay and extending from the tip of Sandy Hook to the south shore of Long Island is a series of shoals that separate New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary from the deeper waters of the Atlantic; known as the Bar of Sandy Hook. For over three centuries the mariners tasked with guiding the ships across this bar have been known as Sandy Hook pilots.
As the port of New York-New Jersey grew and the ships evolved so did the role of the pilot and the craft with which he used to ply his trade. The earliest pilots were employed as explorers, tasked with sounding and surveying the harbors for their respective European governments. Henry Hudson used his pijl lood for three days from the deck of the Halve Maen sounding and charting the Lower Bay. The channel he found lay close to the spit of land called Sant Hoek; known today as Sandy Hook. The English term pilot comes from the two Dutch words pijl (pole) and lood (lead). The early colonist of Manhattan Island, kept a whaleboat at Sandy Hook, ready to place a pilot aboard incoming vessels.
After two major shipwrecks in 1836, it became apparent that service for vessels entering and departing the port was necessary. A committee of merchants and citizens organized a small group of local seamen to assist the ship masters coming into the port.
The sailor on the great Seal of New York City holds in his hand the traditional tool of the pilot; the lead. This is a testament to the importance of the craft to early New Yorkers. Over the seventeenth century as populations increased, pilotage became a more local profession. The need for local knowledge of tides, currents, shoals, and navigational hazards prompted this change. On March 9, 1694 legislation passed by the Colony of New York appointed the first local mariners as Sandy Hook pilots.
Throughout the colonial period pilotage continued to develop. In 1718 competition began to be recognized as a problem; legislation was enacted to punish those who would pose as a pilot by fines or seizure of property. By 1763 the Board of Wardens was created to regulate and license pilots and to strengthen compulsory pilotage established by early acts. When the first American president, George Washington, arrived in Elizabeth, New Jersey he boarded a stately ceremonial barge rowed by thirteen pilots in white uniforms to the Battery for his inauguration.
In 1784 the New York legislature recognized and strengthened state pilotage law. Under this legislation Zachary Rusler became the first New York State-licensed Sandy Hook Pilot. His license was signed by Governor George Clinton.