Pittsburgh Daily Post 3 Jun 1857, Wed · Page 3.
The Steamboat Act of 1852 required that pilots and engineers pass a knowledge-based test before a license was granted. The license was valid for twelve months. Pilot, the prince of the river, training required years of apprenticeship. Pilots were the most skilled and so best compensated of the steamboat officers. As a cub pilot, a trainee had to learn the name of every town, point, bend, island, sandbar, snag, and wreck on the river. There was no external aid to navigation; it was all in their brain. The pilot was the flesh and blood GPS without whom a tall stack packet could not move. Not all captains were qualified pilots, and not all pilots aspired to be captains. Even when serving a captain who himself was a qualified pilot, the pilot at the wheel reigned supreme during his allotted watch. The actual navigation of the boat was the responsibility of the pilot on duty. His word was law before which everyone bowed. A pilot’s chief indulgence was hero worship. Their heroes were those of their own profession who had undertaken the most thrilling adventures.
On 3 Jun 1857, the successful and not so successful candidates licensed by the local inspectors in the month of May were named in the Pittsburgh Daily Post. The number of pilots licensed was eleven. A close looks at the pilots included Geo W Ebert (my double great grandfather), Geo W Poe ( brother of Jacob and Thomas), Jonathan Kinsey (often clerk on many Poe family boats), Jno N Lyons (son of Samuel Lyons who wasan engineer on many Poe family boats), and John S McMillen. Five of the eleven licensed pilots were residents of Georgetown. Two pilot license applications were refused for “want of knowledge”.
Nineteen pilot licenses were awarded and twenty-one refused None of named candidates were residents of Georgetown.
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