Meet the marine pilots guiding huge ships into Saint John's notoriously difficult port

It's 4:45 a.m. on the Saint John waterfront. The wateris coal black, except forthe shimmering reflection ofstreetlights and the sea foam swirling around the new breakwater at Long Wharf.

Harbour pilot Ryan McLean is heading out on his first call of the day. He's bringing in the Oasis of the Seas,"one of the largest cruise ships in the world, and the largest that we've ever handled in Saint John," he says.

With 5,931 passengers and 2,130 crew, the Oasis willset arecord for the mostpassengers to arrive on one ship in a single day.

Eighty or so cruise ships arrive in Saint John every year.

"We have quite a few large ones not quite as large as the Oasis," saysMcLean, as the pilot boat cruised out toward Partridge Island.

WATCH | A behind-the-scenes look at the job of Saint John harbour pilots:

Meet the harbour pilots who guide huge ships into Saint Johns difficult port

1 year ago

Duration 6:42

Seafaring knowledge, physical fitness and quick thinking are key to working in one of the Port Citys oldest professions.

He's thinking about the job ahead. With a ship 360 metres long with a gross tonnage of 226,838, "positioning is everything," McLean says. "It's quite a narrow channel for a ship that size. Also important are "speed control, of course because of its size, it's gotta be berthed very slowly, and very gently."

Fog, storms, and 49 C windchill

ManySaint Johners have a basic notion of what a harbour pilot does: guide large ships into Saint John's port, known as one of the mostchallenging in the entire worldwith its high tides and unpredictable currents.

What most don't realize is what that involves.

The transfer is the toughest part, according to McLean.

In pilot lingo. The "transfer" is boarding an arriving ship whether tanker, container ship, or cruise liner. It's a complex dance that takes place at the "boarding station" nothing more than set of co-ordinates in the open water almost five kilometrespast Partridge Island.

At the boarding station,the pilot climbs up a rope ladder, often up to nine metres abovethe water, from the pilot boat into the ship. Then, the pilot heads up to the bridge to "take the conduct of the vessel" meeting the captain and instructing him on how to bring the ship in.

Once the ship is safely berthed, the pilot waitsfor the next call to do it all over again, sometimes half a dozen times a day or more.

"Transfers and rough conditions can be tricky," saysMcLean, who is fromBathurst and comes from a long line ofpilots, sailors, and fishermen.

"It's in the blood,I guess."

Harbour pilots in Saint John work 365 days a year: at night, in storms, in fog, and when the spring freshet is running into the harbour.

Conditions can be punishing.

"We actually had a day or a night last March where we had 49 [windchill]," McLean says.

"You have to be aggressive to be a pilot. You have to think quick and make fast decisions. Things can happen very fast, especially when the weather is deteriorating."

'Everything has to line up perfectly'

Fortunately, it's a picture-perfect May day for the arrival of the Oasis. The cruise ship glows in the distance on the horizon like afloating skyscraper.

The transfer this time is just a fewsteps up a rope ladder, and into a hatch in the side of the ship.McLean and fellow pilot Gary Joyceare guidedthrough a warren of hallwaysup to the bridge, where captainAnte Cavalais waiting.

Cavala, from Sweden, says it'shis second time in the Port City. He says he'sseen some toughconditions on prior trips.

"You really have to rely on the pilot," Cavala says. "If he doesn't agree with me, I usually will listen to what he has to say.

Even inideal weather, there's a rule calling for unbroken silenceon the bridge asthe pilot and captain talk. Concentration is critical.

"What a lot of people might not realize is that the pilot doesn't just give advice they come on board the ship and sometimes they take control.

"We're there to protect the port, its infrastructure and everything that's there, as well as the vessel."

Additional delicate manoeuvring is required once the ship arrivesat the dock: markings at one-metreintervalson the asphalt help the stevedores, or line handlers, relay the position of the ship back up to the bridge.

"Everything has to line up perfectly," says Joyce.

"We're talking inches. It really has to be precise to attach the gangways and pedways so everyone can get on and off safely"

Outbound journey

Large vessels need a pilot to come into Saint John andthey also also need one to leave.

Brent Reardon is a Newfoundlander who's been at sea for 17 years, and a Saint John pilot for just over three. He's taskedwith the outbound run for the Oasis at 6:45 p.m.

Cruise ships, he says,are his favourite. They "got all the power. They got all the play toys. It can do whatever you want it to do."

Sitting in the pilot house, a little Kent home in the parking lot of the Diamond Jubilee Cruise Ship Terminal where the pilots store paperwork, do laundry, and catch a few zzz's, he's checking the tides, the river and the winds.

"We've got 20 knots south southwest. So she'll be blowing pretty good coming out here," Reardon says.

At360 metres long, a cruise ship is basically a "massive sail," he says, and can be blown off course."The channel isn't very wide. We'll have to be on our toes."

For the outbound trip Reardon and fellow pilot FenningMcAlpineboardthe ship viathe Diamond Jubilee, looking like astronauts in their big red flotation jackets next to the spiffy cruisepassengers in khakis and pressed white shirts.

Back up to the bridge, Cavala, the captain,says he enjoyed a lobster lunch at Steamers, and wandering aroundSaint John's Area 506 container village, which is new since his last visit.

The Oasis slowly moves out of the harbour, dwarfing the waterfront condos and Digby Ferryterminal. When it's time for the transfer,the water is a little choppy the pilot boat is bouncing around a little.

But it goes off, once again, without a hitch. And the pilots are homeward bound, bathed in the glow of a golden-orange sunset.

Smooth seas never made a skilful sailor

There are only 500 marine pilots Canada-wide, according to McLean, eight of whom are in Saint John, plus onetrainee.

Both Reardon and McLean say piloting has a better work-life balance than most other seafaring jobs. While in other roles onemight be away for months at a time, pilots stay close to home.

"The real reason for me to come piloting was because I was missing too much for my family," Reardon says. "It's a great life. I come in the morning, I do a job, I go home."

The tides, currents, and weathermake the job of a Saint John pilotdifficult. But that's part of the fun, according to Reardon.

"It's hard to get experience when things are going right all the time," he says. "When things go bad those are the ones you learn from, you know what I mean?

"I can take a ship in here on a beautiful day, flat calm, and dock her, and say, 'This is easy.'

"It's the bad nights, the windy nights. Snow. Can't see. Fog. The tug blacked out. I lost the bow thrusters on the ship.

"That's when you learn how to get out of trouble and how to deal with situations and that only comes from experience."