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Comment by paddy_m | Hacker News Reader

It shouldn't happen. There will be investigations. I think that having a properly operating ship is the captain's responsibility.

But the ship's pilot [1] (not captain) should know exactly how the boat will handle and the exact course of action. Pilots are extremely well paid ($200-$400k) and the tests are very stringent. Friends have told me that the Narraganset Bay pilot test involves drawing every shipping navigation bouy on a map by hand to within ~200 yards from memory alone, compass, ruler and scaled map provided.

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Where do you get those salary numbers from? The info about this "Dali" ship is not private: [0], and it lists the master's salary as $10,200 per month.

[0] https://www.balticshipping.com/vessel/imo/9697428/seafarers

The pilot is employed by the port/government, not the ship. They drive to just outside the entrance, then they get off onto a tugboat or some other small utility vessel.

Harbor pilots are licensed by the state (Maryland) require a degree from one of the maritime colleges, deck license, …, are represented by a pilots union (Association of Maryland Pilots) but are employed independently.

I believe the parent comment is referring to the harbor pilot job specifically.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_pilot#Compensation

> The Florida Alliance of Maritime Organizations reported that Florida pilots' annual salaries range from US$100,000 to US$400,000, on par with other US states that have large ports. Columbia Bar pilots earn approximately US$180,000 per year. A 2008 review of pilot salaries in the United States showed that pay ranged from about US$250,000 to over US$500,000 per year.

Columbia Bar pilots are grossly underpaid.

Having visited the Columbia River Maritime Museum (I would strongly recommend if there) https://www.crmm.org - that is 100% correct. Its a place that they send other pilots to do things like rough water training.

In this case, a seemingly pedantic distinction matters:

Pilot != Master

Pilots are very highly paid

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