the decision is primarily based on traffic choke
points and reporting requirements, and on where
the fishing boats, ferries and local traffic will be.
‘You are thinking ahead all the time,’ he adds.
‘But you also need to watch out behind you – it’s
like a game of 3D chess, as you are trying to
maintain a proactive picture of what’s happening
around you. At the same time, you are trying to
pull lots of moving parts together – rules of the
road, complex traffic situations, weather, and
schedules. It can be very challenging and it’s not
for the faint-hearted, but I enjoy a challenge and
being tested so I can draw on my skills and
experience.’
DSCP only uses pilots who have been certified
by Trinity House, and it requires a minimum of
three years of command experience from
candidates holding a current Class 1 master’s
certificate and experience of sailing in Europe.
Once selected, they will undertake a number of
training trips with senior pilots before a final
training voyage conducting the pilotage under
the supervision and assessment of a licensed
pilot. If all that goes well, candidates will then
take a two-hour oral examination at Trinity
House before being awarded their licence.
Capt Lanaghan has been a deepsea pilot since
2016, coming to the job with almost 40 years of
seagoing experience. ‘In the northeast, tradition-ally,
you either went down the mines or into
industry,’ he says. ‘I didn’t fancy going down the
mines and in South Shields there were two
people you aspired to be – a Tyne pilot or a ship’s
captain.’
Capt Lanaghan joined Bank Line as a 17-year-old
cadet. ‘I thought that going to sea would be a
Deepsea pilot
Captain Paul
Lanaghan discus-ses
the Cygnus
Leader’s passage
with the master
and some of the
navigating officers.
IMAGES: ANDREW
LININGTON
54 SUOMEN MERENKULKU J FINLANDS SJÖFART
romantic lifestyle, seeing all these far-off places.
I had a ball for the first two years on the South
Pacific, starting off in Tahiti and working
through all the islands before returning to the UK
six months later.’
Early in his career, he was on a ship that
rescued nearly 300 refugees in the South China
Sea – some of whom he is still in touch with. He
also served in the Falklands conflict on the Bank
Line vessel Cedarbank, shortly before the
company sold its ships, and went on to work for
Jardine Matheson.
Joining the Saudi tanker company Vela in
1994, Capt Lanaghan gained his first command at
the age of 37 and served on vessels of up to 420m
and 428,000dwt before going on to work for
Chevron as a mooring master in West Africa and
freelance operations in Mozambique and Uru-guay.
‘I didn’t care for a job in the office and a
friend at Trinity House in Newcastle who was a
deepsea pilot suggested I should give it a try,’ he
says. ‘Because of my time coming from the
Middle East to Rotterdam on Vela ships, I had
gained a good familiarity with the geographical
area.’
Capt Lanaghan’s licence – which covers an
area stretching from Gibraltar to Archangel,
Russia, up to the entrance to the Skagerrak, and
to 14 degrees west – has to be renewed every
year. There is a revalidation interview and
Trinity House checks of charts, paperwork and
nautical publications. ‘It’s like a law degree,’ he
says. ‘Things are constantly changing, and you
need to keep up to speed with all the changes to
North Sea buoyage, navigation lanes and report-ing
procedures.’
Each deepsea pilot carries their own ARCS
charts, corrected and up to date, as well as
relevant nautical publications in an electronic
format. They can use the pilot plug linkage to the
vessel’s AIS and an independent GPS to give their
own real-time display of the ship’s track and
surrounding conditions.
DSCP trains its pilots on a variety of vessel
types and they can be called upon to sail on
anything from car carriers to containerships,
bulk carriers and tankers, gas carriers and
occasional passengerships, and even US Sealift
Command vessels.
The role of the deepsea pilot can also extend
to navigational safety audits and bridge resource
management training, sea traffic services
onboard seismic survey vessels or assisting with
rig moves.
Capt Lanaghan says he enjoys the variety and
doesn’t have a favourite vessel type to serve on.
‘Because of my past experience, going on to a
Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) is like putting
on a pair of old slippers,’ he admits. ‘But every
”Sometimes you
can sense a sigh
of relief as soon
as you arrive.”