CLOCKWISE 

 FROM TOP LEFT: 

 Pilot boats carry 

 harbor pilots to 

 visiting ships. • 

 Tugboat crews work 

 closely with the 

 harbor pilots. • 

 Many commercial 

 boats come into the 

 Port of Morehead 

 City. • BillBaily 

 must jump from the 

 pilot boat in order 

 to climb the ladder 

 to the bridge of a 

 Navy ship. 



uncle, Buddy Midgett, reduced his hours to 

 part-time. "Our income was cut," says Midgett. 

 "So I thought it best to step back." 



Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, security 

 precautions at U.S ports have increased. Also, 

 pilots — widely recognized as the "eyes and 

 ears of a port" — have added responsibility. 



Often the only U.S. citizen on a foreign 

 ship, pilots are in a unique position to watch 

 for threatening situations. 



"After 9-11, pilots had to start carrying 

 I.D. cards," says Baily. "Sometimes, we have 

 to wait for ships to be boarded by the Coast 

 Guard. We also are more aware of what the 

 crews are doing and the possibility of terrorist 

 attacks." 



PILOT TRAINING 



In North Carolina, as well as other coastal 

 states, state-licensed pilots are highly trained. 

 Most have either extensive deep-sea or tugboat 

 experience. Others go through an extensive 

 apprenticeship program. 



Midgett, a member of the Morehead 

 City Pilots Association, started out at age 19 

 as a deck hand aboard a tugboat involved in 

 shiphandling in Norfolk. 



"I just like being on the water," he 

 says while looking at a tugboat picture in his 

 Morehead City home. "It is like throwing Brer 

 Rabbit in a briar patch. As a kid, I had a skiff 

 or boat. I grew up on the water. We are just big 

 boys with bigger toys." 



While working on the tugboat, Midgett 

 got pilot's and master's licenses and then 

 moved up to a docking pilot. Later, he moved 

 to Charleston to work as a docking pilot for a 

 private towing company. 



In 1967, Midgett accepted a job with the 

 Piner family, who had guided ships around 

 Morehead City for many years. "The port was 

 booming then," he says. "There was almost a 

 ship a day. Tobacco was king and was being 

 exported." 



Baily began working as a pilot boat 

 captain with the Morehead City Pilots 

 Association in 1974 and later moved to 

 Norfolk, where he was a docking pilot. He 

 came back to the Morehead City association 

 full-time in 1986. 



Baily vividly recalls riding his first ship 

 with "Capt. Buddy" — and disembarking 

 from the ship that was headed out to sea onto 

 the pilot boat. 



"I had sweaty palms, and the boat was 

 drifting back," Baily says. "Capt. Buddy had a 

 walkie-talkie and told me the boat was out of 

 gas and three feet from the ladder." 



But Baily and Midgett made it safely 

 onto the boat. 



By the time Baily had been captain 

 of the pilot boat for several months, he was 

 hooked. 



"It is not a like a 9-to-5 job," he says. 

 "I like running boats and being on the water. 

 However, sometimes, it is a real pain when it 

 is windy, rainy or foggy or dark. It also can be 

 beautiful and sunny. With 15-foot seas, it takes 

 a lot of expertise." 



Early in his career, Baily had to rescue 

 Midgett, who fell into the water while 

 jumping onto a ship. 



"We were bringing in a big tanker," 

 Baily recalls. "There was a big swell from the 

 south. The wind had shifted and was blowing 

 a gale out of the north." 



The ship tried to "make a lee" on the 

 side of the ship exposed to the swell, he adds. 



"Capt. Buddy was on the bow of the 

 pilot boat when a large swell hit the side of the 

 ship, rebounded and coincided with another 

 large incoming swell," adds Baily. "The pilot 

 boat rolled severely down on her side, and 

 Capt. Buddy lost his footing." 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 9 



