Naval Pilot Authority

Last updated September 09, 2019

The Naval Pilot Authority (Norwegian : Losvesenet) was a government agency responsible for maritime pilotage in Norway between 1899 and 1974. Its central administration was the Naval Pilot Directorate (Losdirektoratet) in Oslo. The operational organization consisted of a varying number of district offices. The authority became part of the Norwegian Coastal Administration from 1 June 1974.

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is the official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties; some Norwegian and Swedish dialects, in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages, constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are not mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While the two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era.

A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types. Although usage differs, a government agency is normally distinct both from a department or ministry, and other types of public body established by government. The functions of an agency are normally executive in character, since different types of organizations are most often constituted in an advisory role—this distinction is often blurred in practice however.

A maritime pilot, marine pilot, harbor pilot, bar pilot, or simply pilot, is a sailor who maneuvers ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths. They are navigational experts possessing knowledge of the particular waterway such as its depth, currents, and hazards.

History

Pilotage had taken place along the coast of Norway since prehistory. In early times pilots had a competitive regime, where several candidates would race to reach a potential ship to collect the fee. Because of the hard competition, pilots would often fare out in too harsh conditions, frequently meeting an early death. However, the occupation was amongst the best paid in rural areas. From 1720 there were introduced piloting exams. The pilots owned their own boats an hired an assistant, often thei rown sons, to operate the boat for them. From 1899 the competitive pilot system was abolished and a new piloting law was introduced, establishing the Naval Pilot Authority.^[1]

Human prehistory is the period between the use of the first stone tools c. 3.3 million years ago by hominins and the invention of writing systems. The earliest writing systems appeared c. 5,300 years ago, but it took thousands of years for writing to be widely adopted, and it was not used in some human cultures until the 19th century or even until the present. The end of prehistory therefore came at very different dates in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently.

The agency was initially organized in three regions, Sønnendfjeldske headquartered in Oslo, Vestenfjeldske in Bergen and Northern Norway based in Tromsø. Each was led by a head pilot (overlos). They were subdivided into a series of pilot olderman district, counting 26 in 1947. The Naval Pilot Directorate, which was based in Oslo, was established as a subsidiary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry on 9 April 1948. It took over the central coordination of the authority, replacing the regions. It was horizontally moved to the Ministry of Fisheries from 1 January 1952.^[2]

Bergen, historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Hordaland on the west coast of Norway. At the end of the first quarter of 2018, the municipality's population was 280,216, and the Bergen metropolitan region has about 420,000 inhabitants. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers 465 square kilometres (180 sq mi) and is on the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are on Byfjorden, 'the city fjord', and the city is surrounded by mountains; Bergen is known as the 'city of seven mountains'. Many of the extra-municipal suburbs are on islands. Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland, and consists of eight boroughs: Arna, Bergenhus, Fana, Fyllingsdalen, Laksevåg, Ytrebygda, Årstad, and Åsane.

Northern Norway is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway are Mo i Rana, Bodø, Narvik, Harstad, Tromsø and Alta. Northern Norway is often described as the land of the midnight sun and the land of the northern lights. Further north, halfway to the North Pole, is the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, traditionally not regarded as part of Northern Norway.

Tromsø is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Outside Norway, Tromso and Tromsö are alternative spellings of the name.

The directorate was merged with the Lighthouse and Buoy Authority, and the Port Authority on 1 June 1974 to create the Norwegian Coastal Administration. However, the Naval Pilot Authority continued as an independent operational agency until 1980.^[3]

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References

↑ Brekke, Nils Georg; Skaar, Ronny B. (1995). Kulturhistorisk vegvisar Fedje (in Norwegian). Fedje: Fedje Municipality. p. 48. ISBN 82-7326-034-8.
↑ "Losdirektoratet". Norwegian Social Science Data Services . Retrieved 19 September 2015.
↑ "History of the Norwegian Coastal Administration". Norwegian Coastal Administration. 30 September 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2015.

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[1] Brekke, Nils Georg; Skaar, Ronny B. (1995). Kulturhistorisk vegvisar Fedje (in Norwegian). Fedje: Fedje Municipality. p. 48. ISBN 82-7326-034-8.

[2] "Losdirektoratet". Norwegian Social Science Data Services . Retrieved 19 September 2015.

[3] "History of the Norwegian Coastal Administration". Norwegian Coastal Administration. 30 September 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2015.