Photos
Commissioners’ Bio – Legislation – Photo Gallery
- Harbor Calls – a page from the 1945 Tide Book
- Cadwalader Ringgold’s 1850 Chart of San Francisco Bay
- Convoy at Anchor – WWII
- At the Pilot Station
Four San Francisco Bar Pilots aboard the schooner “California”. San Francisco Bar Pilots continue to do their work in formal business attire to this day.
A page from the “San Francisco Bar Pilots 1945 Tidebook” showing correct rigging of the pilot ladder on a Liberty Ship.
Seas at the San Francisco pilot station frequently run over 8 ft or more. Boarding a pilot ladder in such weather requires good timing – wait for the crest of a wave to carry the pilot boat to its highest point and only then step onto the ladder, climbing to the ship’s rail while the pilot boat falls away beneath you.
While in San Francisco be sure to visit the Liberty Ship S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien. and get a sense of the daily life of merchant seaman during WWII.
Contact Information
Board of Pilot Commissioners For the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun
660 Davis Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
e-mail: bopc@bopc.ca.gov
TEL (415) 397-2253
FAX (415) 397-9463