On Pilots
01-03-2012, 04:00 AM
#1
With The Resistance
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Joined APC: Jan 2006
Position: Burning the Agitprop of the Apparat
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On Pilots
I wish I was back there piloting up & down the river again. Verily, all is vanity and little worth--save piloting.
- Letter to Jane Clemens, 10/1865
...all men--kings & serfs alike--are slaves to other men & to circumstance--save alone, the pilot--who comes at no man's back and call, obeys no man's orders & scorns all men's suggestions. The king would do this thing, & would do that: but a cramped treasury overmasters him in the one case & a seditious people in the other. The Senator must hob-nob with canaille whom he despises, & banker, priest & statesman trim their actions by the breeze of the world's will & the world's opinion. It is a strange study,--a singular phenomenon, if you please, that the only real, independent & genuine gentlemen in the world go quietly up and down the Mississippi river, asking no homage of any one, seeking no popularity, no notoriety, & not caring a damn whether school keeps or not.
- Letter to Will Bowen, 8/25/1866
A pilot, in those days, was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived in the earth.
- Life on the Mississippi
- Letter to Jane Clemens, 10/1865
...all men--kings & serfs alike--are slaves to other men & to circumstance--save alone, the pilot--who comes at no man's back and call, obeys no man's orders & scorns all men's suggestions. The king would do this thing, & would do that: but a cramped treasury overmasters him in the one case & a seditious people in the other. The Senator must hob-nob with canaille whom he despises, & banker, priest & statesman trim their actions by the breeze of the world's will & the world's opinion. It is a strange study,--a singular phenomenon, if you please, that the only real, independent & genuine gentlemen in the world go quietly up and down the Mississippi river, asking no homage of any one, seeking no popularity, no notoriety, & not caring a damn whether school keeps or not.
- Letter to Will Bowen, 8/25/1866
A pilot, in those days, was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived in the earth.
- Life on the Mississippi
01-03-2012, 06:37 AM
#2
Runs with scissors
Joined APC: Dec 2009
Position: Going to hell in a bucket, but enjoying the ride .
Posts: 7,753
And a few years ago I think I read that a River Pilot makes some huge amount of money, and a NY Tug Boat operator as well, something over $300,000 yr.!
Ahhh...if only I'd skipped flying lessons and gone to the Mass. Maritime school instead!
http://www.maritime.edu/
Ahhh...if only I'd skipped flying lessons and gone to the Mass. Maritime school instead!
http://www.maritime.edu/
01-03-2012, 08:08 AM
#3
With The Resistance
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Joined APC: Jan 2006
Position: Burning the Agitprop of the Apparat
Posts: 6,191
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