The old occupation of Ship Pilot
Was your ancestor a “pilote” (pilot), “maître pilote” (master pilot), “pilote côtier” (coastal pilot), or “pilote hauturier” (deep-sea pilot)? Learn more about what these occupations were like in New France, Quebec and Canada.
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Le Pilote | The Pilot
« Pilots board a schooner », 1882 drawing by B.A. Wikström.
The pilot, an expert in navigation, was the person who maneuvered and guided a ship. He worked alongside the ship's captain, communicating the ship's position and possible dangers to navigation (currents, islands, reefs, shallow water, etc.). To do this, he used navigation instruments such as the compass or the sextant. He checked his instruments daily and noted any significant observations. He was assisted in his tasks by second pilots and assistant pilots.
In the St. Lawrence River, the pilot was a specialist in local navigation conditions, with the objective of guiding the ship along the river, as well as entering and leaving ports. He knew the currents, winds, tides, anchorages, etc. The first pilots in New France were French. Little by little, they got to know the river well, and were able to teach their trade to apprentices.
“From New France (1647) to the present day, the pilots of the St. Lawrence, people of the river, have been at the heart of the extraordinary challenge of maritime safety on this difficult shipping route.”
Ad in Le Canadien, August 16, 1837, page 2 (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec)
Ordinances from 1762 to 1797 attempted to formalize the profession. In 1788, for example, the Chambre d'Assemblée (House of Assembly) imposed new requirements for becoming a pilot: they had to pass an exam and obtain a certificate of competence. According to Jean-Claude Dionne, “It was decreed that the pilots would go two by two, accompanied by one or more apprentices, who should not be less than fourteen years old. Each 'company of two pilots' had to have a suitable rowboat, rigged sails, oars, anchors and grapples. Apprentices were required to serve for four years and could not be admitted until the age of twenty-one. Their masters were required to show them how to use a compass, how to sound bays and harbors, how to anchor and how to maneuver ships. A pilot was entitled to eleven schellings for each foot of water that a vessel drew. ”(Dionne, 2019).
Another law was passed in 1805 by the parliament of Lower Canada. A pilot's license would be granted only after an apprenticeship of at least 5 years, and after at least two trips to Europe. The pilot also had to master enough English to give orders.
Variations:
“Pilote côtier”, or coastal pilot: person who guides the ship along coastlines, in the ports.
“Pilote hauturier”, or offshore/deep-sea pilot : person who guides the ship on the high seas.
“Pilote lamaneur”, or docking pilot: worker who stays on the docks or quays to moor ships.
Extract from a pilot's license awarded to Sévère Bélisle, 6 Mar 1846 (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec)
Known persons who had the occupation of pilot: Edouard Anctil, François Aubin, Pierre Aubrière, François Aubut, Antoine Audet dit Lapointe, François Audet dit Lapointe, Isaac Audet dit Lapointe, Gilbert Baillargeon, Nicolas Baillargeon, Sévère Bélisle, Alexis Bellecoeur, Jean Blondel, Jean Blouin, Paul Blouin, Pierre Bonneau, Jean Cachelièvre, Jean-Baptiste Chalou, Pierre Chauvin, François Côté, François Curodeau, Charles Delage, Charles Delisle, François-Xavier Demeule, Jean Deymier, Pierre Dizet, Laurent Dubois, Claude Dubosq, Ambroise Dumas, Jean Dumas, Joseph Dupille, Germain Fluet, Louis Fontaine, Pierre Fontaine, Joseph Fort, François Gaulin, Jean Gaulin, Jean-Baptiste Gaulin, Edouard Genest, Joseph Genest, Joseph Girouard, Charles Guérard, Antoine Gobeil, Jean Gobeil, Pierre Gobeil, Nicolas Godeboust, Ignace Gourdeau, Jean Gourdeau, Pierre Gourdeau (père et fils), Joseph Gravel, Dominique Harvey, Marc Jouanne, Gabriel Lachance, Joseph Lachance, Joseph Ovide Lachance, Maurice Lachance, Moïse Lachance, Paul Lachance, Pierre Lachance, Denis Lafargue, Cyprien Langlois, Joseph Philéas Langlois, Pierre Lavoie, Guillaume Lemelin, Jean Lemoine, Louis Maheu, Edouard Marcoux, Jean Marcoux, Abraham Martin dit l'Écossais, Etienne Martin, Jean Monjaud dit le Dragon, Thomas Moors, David Morin, William Morin, François Noël, Onézime Noël, Amable Paquet, Paul Paquet, Pierre Paquet, Jean Pain, François Painchaud, Jean Paradis, Eugène Pepin dit Lachance, Ovide Pepin dit Lachance, Paul Pepin dit Lachance, Honoré Pelletier, Antoine Perochaud, Michel Petrimoulx, François Pignoisard, Alphonse Pouliot, Joseph Pouliot, François Prou, Hubert Raymond, Joseph Raymond, François Rioux, Pierre Rouleau. Antoine Roussel, Abraham Royer, Louis Albert Royer, Pierre Saint-Hilaire, Pierre Saint-Mars, Louis Thivierge, Jacques Tremblay, Alfred Turgeon, William West
Illustration of a pilot on the lookout for incoming steamboats; from the Century Magazine in the November 1881-April 1882 edition.
Known persons who had the occupation of master pilot: Paul Blouin. David Bouffard, Pierre Crépeau, François Curodeau, Pierre Curodeau, Alexis Delisle, François-Xavier Delisle, Jean Delisle, Nazaire Delisle, François-Xavier Demeule, Joseph Dick, Louis Fontaine, Paul Fontaine, Pierre Fontaine, Joseph Fortier, Jean Gaulin, Antoine Gobeil, Jean Gobeil (père et fils), Paul Gobeil, Pierre Gobeil, Laurent Godbout, Fabien Langellier, Charles Langlois, Cyprien Langlois dit St-Jean (père et fils), Joseph Langlois, Paul Langlois, Henry Noël, Isidore Noël, Joseph Paquet, Paul Paquet, Barthélémi Pepin dit Lachance, Eugène Pepin dit Lachance, François-Xavier Pepin dit Lachance, Gabriel Pepin dit Lachance, Joseph Pepin dit Lachance, Moyse Pepin dit Lachance, Nestor Pepin dit Lachance, Paul Pepin dit Lachance, Pierre Pepin dit Lachance, Antoine Petit, Charles Pouliot, Jean Pouliot, Jean-Baptiste Pouliot, Joseph Pouliot (père et fils), Moïse Pouliot, Paul Pouliot, Hubert Raymond, Joseph Raymond, Léandre Raymond, Antoine Rousselle, Louis Albert Royer, Thomas Théberge, Louis Thivierge, Jacques Tremblay, Charles Wagner
Known persons who had the occupation of coastal pilot: Jean Durand, Jean Girard, Marc Jouanne, Louis Leblanc, Charles Lecourt, Charles Levreau, Charles Nadeau, Augustin Raby
Known persons who had the occupation of deep-sea pilot: Pierre Gilbert
Known persons who had the occupation of dockingpilot : Joseph Savard, Guillaume Tremblay
Sources:
Dionne, Jean-Claude (2019), « Les divers métiers de la navigation exercés par des résidants de l’Île d’Orléans (1666-1930) », Société de recherche historique Archiv-Histo Inc. ( https://archiv-histo.com/).
Leclerc, Jean, « Les pilotes du Saint-Laurent. Gardiens du Fleuve. », Continuité (https://www.magazinecontinuite.com/les-pilotes-du-saint-laurent-gardiens-du-fleuve/).
Leclerc, Jean (2001), « Pilotes du Saint-Laurent : le fleuve dans le creux de la main. » Continuité, (89), 33–36. Digitized by Érudit (https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/continuite/1900-v1-n1-continuite1053739/15769ac.pdf).
« Pilote », Portail lexique du Centre national de ressources textuelles et lexicales, https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/pilote.