Maryland's Key Bridge collapses after it was struck by a container ship

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by COchief

This sounds like the worst job in the world. Randomly taking control of all kinds of different ships with different loads at the last minute and having to basically parallel park a semi with millions of dollars of cargo and ships on the line. Not enough money in the world for me to do something like that, glad to hear the poster above saying they are well compensated, sounds deserved.

And don't forget crawling out onto a ladder between two ships in stormy weather.

When I did my freighter trip, the first thing we did was leave San Francisco Bay. It was dark and the water was choppy, and when the harbor pilot left the ship they pulled the pilot boat right next to the hull and then put a gangplank across to a tiny door in the hull of the freighter, and the pilot crossed over. Apparently the system works, but it seemed like a lot of stuff could go wrong in that system.

It seems like the transfer would have happened after we crossed under the Golden Gate Bridge into the ocean, but I seem to remember that the pilot got off between the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. Maybe at that point they can set a straight course to go under the Golden Gate? Or maybe that area is wide enough where the regular captain could easily get it under the bridge. But it seems like the pilot would stay on until the freighter is out of any areas of congestion and stuff you can hit, like bridge pilings.