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Harbor pilots are specialized navigators who board incoming ships near the entrance to a port and temporarily take command of steering the vessel through the specific hazards of that local waterway, such as shifting sandbars, narrow channels, and strong currents. Unlike a ship's regular captain, who may have decades of open-ocean experience but no familiarity with a particular harbor, a pilot's expertise is intensely local, often built over years of guiding vessels through the same few miles of water in every condition of tide and weather. Regulations in most major ports make hiring a pilot mandatory for large commercial vessels, reflecting the high cost of accidents in congested shipping lanes. Pilots typically board moving ships from small boats, climbing rope ladders even in rough seas, a transfer method that remains one of the most physically dangerous parts of the job despite modern safety equipment.