The English statutes give the master such a lien, both for wages and disbursements.43

PILOTAGE

12. A pilot is a person who, in consequence of his special knowledge of the waters, has charge of the handling of a vessel.

13. State pilot laws are constitutional.

14. The skill required of a pilot is the ordinary care of an expert in his profession.

15. When in charge of navigation, he supersedes the mas

ter.

16. Under the American decisions the vessel is liable for his negligence, though he is a compulsory pilot. 17. He is liable for negligence.

18. The ordinary forms of pilot associations are not liable for the acts of one of their members.

19. In America admiralty courts have jurisdiction of suits against pilots.

The word "pilot" is used in admiralty in reference to two classes. He may be a regular member of the crew, or he may be taken aboard simply to conduct a vessel in or out of port. The nature of his duties is in each case about the same. He is supposed to know specially the waters through which the vessel navigates, and to conduct her safely through them. The importance of his duties, therefore, is only second to that of the master. In fact, the courts have frequently looked upon him as practically charged with the same responsibility as the master.

46 Morgan v. Castlegate S. S. Co., [1893] A. C. 38; Rupert City (D. C.) 213 Fed. 263.

Validity of State Pilot Laws

Most of the states bordering on navigable waters have passed laws regulating the business of pilotage, and rendering it obligatory upon a vessel to take a pilot, or pay the pilotage fees, though the master of the vessel may himself be familiar with the waters, and not need assistance in taking his ship to port. The compulsory nature of these laws has been often criticized, but they are based upon reasons of sound public policy. Unless pilotage is compulsory, the occupation would not be sufficiently remunerative to induce men of skill and character to engage in it. It is like other numerous kinds of expenses in modern business where people must pay when no direct service is rendered, in order to support a class of men who can render that service best. It is similar to the payment of taxes in order to support police and fire departments, though the individuals who pay them may never be robbed or have their houses burned; for a moment may come when any one of them may need such protection.

In COOLEY v. BOARD OF WARDENS OF PORT OF PHILADELPHIA" the court says: "Like other laws, they are framed to meet the most usual cases-quæ frequentius accidunt. They rest upon the propriety of securing lives and property exposed to the perils of a dangerous navigation by taking on board a person peculiarly skilled to encounter or avoid them; upon the policy of discouraging the commanders of vessels from refusing to receive such persons on board at the proper times and places; and upon the expediency, and even intrinsic justice, of not suffering those who have incurred labor, and expense, and danger to place themselves in a position to render important service generally necessary, to go unrewarded, because the master of a particular vessel either rashly refuses their proffered assistance, or, contrary to the general experience, does not need it. There are many cases in

§§ 12-19. 47 12 How. 299, 13 L. Ed. 996.

which an offer to perform, accompanied by present ability to perform, is deemed by law equivalent to performance. The laws of commercial states and countries have made an offer of pilotage service one of those cases; and we cannot pronounce a law which does this to be so far removed from the usual and fit scope of laws for the regulation of pilots and pilotage as to be deemed for this cause a covert attempt to legislate upon another subject under the appearance of legislating on this one."

In the China is the court said: "It is necessary that both outward and inward bound vessels of the classes designated in the statute should have pilots possessing full knowledge of the pilot grounds over which they are to be conducted. The statute seeks to supply this want, and to prevent, as far as possible, the evils likely to follow from ignorance or mistake as to the qualifications of those to be employed, by providing a body of trained and skillful seamen, at all times ready for the service, holding out to them sufficient inducements to prepare themselves for the discharge of their duties, and to pursue a business attended with so much of peril and hardship."

These pilotage laws are among the state statutes relating to vessels which have been upheld as not in conflict with the clause of the federal constitution conferring on congress the exclusive right to regulate interstate and foreign commerce.* The theory of these decisions is that such laws affect commerce incidentally, and are valid until congress legislates on the subject.

49

The leading case on the subject is COOLEY v. BOARD OF WARDENS OF PORT OF PHILADELPHIA.50

48 7 Wall. 53, 19 L. Ed. 67.

49 Article 1, § 8, cl. 3.

50 12 How. 299, 13 L. Ed. 996.

See, also, Olsen v. Smith, 195 U.

S. 332, 25 Sup. Ct. 52, 49 L. Ed. 224; Thompson v. Darden, 198 U. S. 310, 25 Sup. Ct. 660, 49 L. Ed. 1064.

HUGHES,ADM. (2D ED.)—3

Skill Required of Pilot

Since a pilot hires himself out as an expert, and is employed because he is an expert, the measure of care required of him is a high one. Some of the cases go so far as to say that his liability is as great as that of a common carrier, but the contract of pilotage is, after all, one of mere hiring, and the duty required of him is simply the ordinary care required of any servant. This ordinary care, however, varies with the character of the employment, so that the ordinary care required of an expert is much higher than the ordinary care required of a simple driver of a land vehicle. The pilot's liability is for ordinary care, but that means the ordinary care of an expert in his profession. While he is not liable for mere errors of judgment, he is liable for any accident that care and attention and an intelligent knowledge of the locality with which he professes familiarity might prevent. He is supposed to know the currents, the channel, and all special difficulties connected therewith, except unknown and sudden obstructions which he could not find out by intelligent attention. He is supposed to know how to cross the bar, and when it is the proper time to cross it.51

In ATLEE v. NORTHWESTERN UNION PACKET CO.52 the court lays down the following as the knowledge required of a river pilot:

"The character of the skill and knowledge required of a pilot in charge of a vessel on the rivers of the country is very different from that which enables a navigator to carry his vessel safely on the ocean. In this latter case a knowledge of the rules of navigation, with charts which disclose the places of hidden rocks, dangerous shores, or other dangers of the way, are the main elements of his knowledge

51 Guy v. Donald, 157 Fed. 527, 85 C. C. A. 291, 14 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1114, 13 Ann. Cas. 947; Dora Allison (D. C.) 213 Fed. 645.

52 21 Wall. 389, 22 L. Ed. 619; Harrison v. Hughes, 125 Fed. 860, 60 C. C. A. 442.

and skill, guided as he is in his course by the compass, by the reckoning and the observations of the heavenly bodies, obtained by the use of proper instruments. It is by these he determines his locality, and is made aware of the dangers of such locality, if any exist. But the pilot of a river steamer, like the harbor pilot, is selected for his personal knowledge of the topography through which he steers his vessel. In the long course of a thousand miles in one of these rivers he must be familiar with the appearance of the shore on each side of the river as he goes along. Its banks, towns, its landings, its houses and trees, and its openings between trees, are all landmarks by which he steers his vessel. The compass is of little use to him. He must know where the navigable channel is in its relation to all these external objects, especially in the night. He must also be familiar with all dangers that are permanently located in the course of the river, as sand bars, snags, sunken rocks or trees, or abandoned vessels or barges. All this he must know and remember and avoid. To do this he must be constantly informed of changes in the current of the river, of sand bars newly made, of logs, or snags, or other objects newly presented, against which his vessel might be injured. In the active life and changes made by the hand of man or the action of the elements in the path of his vessel, a year's absence from the scene impairs his capacity-his skilled knowledge-very seriously in the course of a long voyage. He should make a few of the first 'trips' as they are called, after his return, in company with other pilots more recently familiar with the river.

"It may be said that this is exacting a very high order of ability in a pilot. But when we consider the value of the lives and property committed to their control-for in this they are absolute masters-the high compensation they receive, and the care which Congress has taken to secure by rigid and frequent examinations and renewal licenses this very class of skill, we do not think we fix the standard very high."