A Bristol Channel pilot cutter is a type of sailing boat used until the early part of the 20th century to deliver and collect pilots to and from merchant vessels using ports in the Bristol Channel. Each pilot worked individually, in competition with other pilots. Especially after 1861, the level of competition required larger and faster cutters, as pilots went "seeking" (looking for a ship that required a pilot to a Bristol Channel port) at much greater distances. The resulting boats were known for their ability to sail in the most extreme weather, for speed and sea-kindliness. They were designed for short handed sailing, often manned only by a man and an apprentice, with one or sometimes two pilots on board.[1]: 66, passim
Bristol Channel pilot cutters were referred to as "skiffs" by their crews on the English side of the channel, and "yawls" by those working from Welsh ports. These names suggest the type of craft used as pilot boats before the pilot cutter type took over the role.[a][1]: 15
The design has been described by some as the best sailing boat design ever.[3]
The system of competition between individual pilots was steadily removed in the period 1908 – 1923, as each individual pilot district instituted a co-operative amalgamation of pilots who then worked a rota system to provide a service. This greatly reduced the number of sailing pilot cutters required, and these were soon replaced by steam-powered cutters that remained on station to provide a pilotage service. Bristol pilots amalgamated in 1923, but kept 2 of the cutters as stand-by vessels in case of breakdown of the steam pilot cutter.[1]: 140-141
^ abcCite error: The named reference Stuckey 1999 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Mannering, Julian; Greenhill, Basil, eds. (1997). Inshore Craft, Traditional Working Vessels of the British Isles (2013 ed.). Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-167-0.
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