Hold on to your hats…..

Written by Chris Corbett, Community Engagement Officer, Teesside Archives

Image Reference; U/TPA(3)11/1

It looks as though our coastal resorts will be particularly busy in the coming months as people ease themselves out of lockdown and start to explore their local areas. Anybody coming to the seaside is probably more interested in the beach, the weather and where the best ice creams and fish and chips can be found. However, I imagine most people do spend a little time gazing out to sea and watching the huge container ships on the horizon, patiently waiting to enter Tees Port with their cargoes. I’m always struck by the sheer scale of these vessels; modern container ships are enormous and have global crews onboard who can’t possibly know the detail of how to safely enter Teesmouth. This is where the Tees Pilot service comes in, where extremely skilled seamen with local knowledge are taken onboard the ships to work with the crews and guide them in to and out of the port. The current Tees Pilot shore station is on the South Gare breakwater and is familiar to all regular visitors to this part of the coast. I’d always assumed that it was a relatively recent construction but finding today’s image in our Tees Port Authority collection and subsequent research revealed a much longer history.

Before I start my version of the story, I must recommend a brilliant book in our search room, The History of the Tees Pilots by D S Helier which was published in the 1980’s to mark the centenary of the founding of the Tees Pilotage Commission in 1882. It is a veritable treasure trove of information and stories about the service in general and also about the opening of the shore station, pictured in today’s image. I recommend it for anybody wanting to know more about how our local pilot service evolved over the years but the key thing to note is that without the skill, experience and bravery of the pilots, the trade of this area would have struggled to reach the level of national importance that it holds today. Pilots have been operating on and around the Tees for hundreds of years and in the early days, they had to watch the sea for approaching ships and compete with each other for the right to guide the ships to the port. Over many years, some developed good working relations with particular captains and shipping companies and would become the preferred pilot of a company. The piloting trade would also pass down family lines from father to son and there are local names which were closely linked to the service such as Lithgo, Lister and Harrison. It’s not hard to imagine the hard won knowledge of the Tees, once an incredibly difficult river to navigate prior to the improvements made in the 19^th century, being passed on to sons and grandsons to help them succeed in such a specialized line of work.

The growth of trade and industry along the banks for the river was accompanied by the increasing importance of the role played by the local pilots culminating in the formation of the Tees Pilotage Commission (TPC) in 1882. The Tees Pilotage Commission took on the responsibility of recruiting and training pilots and improving the service, evolving into the Tees Pilotage Authority in 1922 and continuing to adapt up to the present day with Tees Bay Pilots currently provide pilotage services to the ports of Tees and Hartlepool. South Gare’s location at the mouth of the river made it a natural pick up and drop off point for pilots leaving or joining ships though pilots faced a long walk back to Redcar once the railway line ceased to operate. The building of a permanent shelter close to the jetty was discussed, to keep the pilots warm and dry while waiting to be picked up. In 1899, the first tarred wooden cabin was erected, heated by a wood burning stove in cold weather, which if you know South Gare, can pretty much be any time of the year!

The book I mentioned earlier has a wonderful story in it about how the commission made the decision to replace the wooden cabin with the brick building in our image. The wooden cabin was certainly becoming overcrowded and an extension was discussed in 1912. However the events of one night appear to have forced their hand in quite a dramatic manner. To summarise, a couple of young pilots returned from their shipping duties in the early hours to find all the bunks in the shelter were full. Donkeys that were kept busy on Redcar beach in the summer were wintered on the Gare and had got used to the pilots feeding them; subsequently, they would gather around the shelter in hope of more food. The pilots devised a plan to liven up proceedings and managed to persuade a donkey who was hanging around to enter the shelter, a very unexpected wake up call for the sleeping pilots snug in their bunks. The donkey happened to brush past the red hot stove in the middle of the shelter, struck out with its back legs and knocked the stove over. Needless to say, the fire quickly took hold in the tarred wooden cabin which was severely damaged. Thankfully, everyone managed to escape unscathed and the TPC decided to go for something a little less flammable for the replacement!

The new brick pilot shore station was officially opened on 28^th April 1913 by the Tees Pilotage Commission Chairman Mr Henry Smurthwaite and we’ll be posting more images on Facebook showing him being presented with an inscribed silver key by either the architect, Councillor Hardman, or the builder Mr John Bainbridge. I chose this particular image to accompany the blog because it shows the new pilot station in all its glory; we also have the original plans which show that the tower at the southern end was originally an open platform. An understandable amendment was made following discussions with the pilots who would be using the facility. I have to confess, once I’d admired the shore station building, my eye turned to the crowd and was drawn to a gentleman who seemed to have something white tied around his hat. Another image shows him much more clearly; he has tied his hat to his head, eschewing appearance for the practicality of ensuring that he did not lose his hat in the brisk wind for which South Gare is renowned!