I like to continue my 'Pilot series' with this one.

Depicted is the Dutch Pilot Vessel 'Lynx' sailing on Flushing Roads (Zeeland, The Netherlands) on her way to a seagoing vessel.

To me, it's almost 'common business', until I realized (because I got some questions) that for most of the Caedes-friends, it isn't 'business as usual'.

One of the forwarded questions was: "What would the principal use of these boats be in your neck of the woods?"

I'll will do an attemt to answer this question below:

To enter or to leave the Belgian ports Antwerp (major European port, mainly for transporting goods to parts of Germany, France, and further) and Ghent, or the Dutch ports Flushing and Terneuzen, a ship has to cross/sail the Western Scheldt river. The Western Scheldt is a very dangerous river because of its curves and the big difference in sea level because of ebb and tide. At the 'mouth' of the Western Scheldt the sea state is often (very) high too. Last but not least, it has a lot of submerged wrecks (mainly as result of WWII bombing). One has to know their positions for anchoring safely in order to find a safe 'shelter' in severe weather conditions. So, to sail the Western Scheldt without risk, a lot of special knowledge and experience is required. The captains of the seagoing vessels have sufficient knowledge and experience, but only in a general (world wide) way, but not to sail the risky Western Scheldt river. Therefore it's required (by law) that such a captain has to be assisted by a real specialist who knows all 'ins and outs' about the Western Scheldt river by heart. Such a specialist is called a pilot. Pilots are mostly former captains (they must have anyhow a captain's license for seagoing vessels) and have done a very special training as well. After that he can become a candidate-pilot. Only after getting a lot of experience, he can function as independent pilot. The pilot manoeuvres the seagoing vessel on the Western Scheldt, but the captain stays responsible for his ship and crew. The pilots in charge get a daily update about the actual maritime situation too (briefing).

In order to transfer the (candidate-)pilots to a seagoing vessel on her way from a port to the open sea (v.v.) the, by me pictured, solid state Belgian and Dutch pilot vessels are used.