In 1970, pilots operated from their offshore headquarters

This photograph from the Delaware Project shows the pilot ship Philadelphia at anchor near the mouth of Delaware Bay. This was in March of 1970, a decade or so before the Pilots Association for Bay and River Delaware moved its Lewes operation from sea-based to shore-based.

For many decades, the pilots took turns rotating on and off the Philadelphia, coming ashore after their turn at piloting vessels up and down the river ended. Previous to the Philadelphia, the pilots had other vessels where they operated from, the earliest being sailing schooners that often went out to sea to meet incoming ships. The Philadelphia stayed put, at anchor, in the protected waters of Breakwater Harbor. Launches, like the one shown here, ferried pilots back and forth to their assignments, some headed up the bay to Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania ports, others being taken off of ships coming out of the bay and river.

Lloyd Teitsworth and Dee Andrews spent most of March in 1970 doing aerial photography up and down Delaware, to chronicle what the state looked like at that time. Their work, residing now at Delaware Public Archives, was titled the Delaware Project.