A kind of nautical description of the Baltic was written as early as 1644 by
Johan Mânsson, a captain in the Admiralty, who also published a sort af maritime
chart of th a t sea. An improved chart was published in 1694 by Captain
Gädda, but it was not till 1737 that the first step was taken towards the institution
of a nautical chart office. At the present time there are excellent
¡harts of the coast of Sweden. An account of the Nautical Chart Office will
oe found in the section entitled: Official Cartography p. I, 226.
The Pilotage Board. The Pilotage Board, which is governed by regulations
of the 13 December 1907, consists of a director-general and three
members, one of whom is the head of the chancery, one the head of the
pilot office, and the third superintendent lighthouse engineer and head of
the corresponding officé. $§§t,:The permanent staff of the Board numbered
in 1911 23 persons.
The Pilo t Service. The present organization of the Pilot Service dates
from 1881, with a few subsequent alterations introduced especially by the
Royal Ordinance of the 30 September 1904. In this Ordinance it is
enacted that the coasts of Sweden and adjacent waters shall be divided into
6 pilotage districts, namely Övre Norm, the Upper North district, comprising
the coasts of the Norrbotten and Yästerbotten Ians; Nedre Norra,
the Lower North district, embracing the coasts of the Yästernorrland, Gäv-
leborg, and Uppsala Ians, and those of Stockholm län up to the north boundary
of Väddö parish; Mellersta, the Midland District, including the coasts
from the last-named boundary and down to the boundary between the parishes
of Bälinge and Tystberga in Södermanland, Lake Mälaren and Lake
Hjälmaren, and the island of Gottland; Östra, the East district, covering
the coasts from the last-named boundary in Södermanland to the boundary
between the parishes of Kristianopel and Torhamn in Blekinge; as
well as the island of Öland and Lake Yättem; Södra, the South district,
comprehending the coasts from the last named frontier in Blekinge besides
the Malmöhus and Kristianstad läns; Vöstra, the West district, embodying
the coasts of the Hailand, Göteborg och Bohus läns and Lake V ä -
nern. Each district is superintended by a pilot captain (lotshapten). The
pilot captains are, as a rule, selected either out of the corps of naval officers
or from among the pilot lieutenants (lotslöjtnant). The pilot lieutenants are
the pilot captains’ right-hand men and deputies; one of them is assigned
to each division, and in addition one to the island of Gottland. The lieutenants
too are as a rule chosen out of the corps of naval officers or from
the Naval Reserves.
The pilot personnel consists of överlotsar, senior pilots, at certain important
stations, lotsförmän, head pilots, at other stations, and the requisite
number of pilots rated as mästerlotsar, master pilots, lotsar, ordinary
pilots, and lotslärlingar, articled pilots. The lighthouse personal is
composed of fyrmastare, lighthouse keepers, fyrvahtare, lighthouse men,
and fyrbiträden, assistant lighthouse men. The staff at the life-saving
stations consists of uppsyningsmän, overseers, bâtstyrare, steersmen, and
roddare, rowers.
A ll who belong to the permanent pilotage staff are obliged in time
of war or important preparations for war, when the King so commands,
to serve in the Royal Navy. However, even in time of peace the pilot
service manages the rather intricate coast signal service of the Navy. The
Director-General of Pilotage and the personnel belonging to the pilotage
divisions are subject to military law.
The P ilo t Personnel. The pilot personnel should have a thorough
knowledge of the waters in their district and of the shallows and reefs
in their vicinity, even when no seamarks have been set up; it devolves
upon them to set up beacons immediately after the ice has given way;
to keep watch so as to ensure that vessels arriving from abroad shall only
enter the officially sanctioned fairways and shall call at the custom-house;
to render their services as pilots to the seafaring public, and so forth. The
pilots are not in receipt of any fixed salary: their chief source of income
consists of the pilot dues paid by the public. However, at pilot stations
where there is little or nothing to be earned in this way, the personnel are
as a rule in receipt of a salary, ranging from 60 to 1 200 kronor. The
pilot dues at each pilot-station are divided at the end of each month between
the pilots, generally in equal shares called lotslotter. These shares
vary greatly. Thus in 1911 the biggest share was 4 911 kronor,
and the smallest merely 4 kronor. The big share fell to the pilots at Oxe-
losund, the tiny one to the personnel at a small station on the coast
of Oland.
In the autumn of 1912 the Pilotage Board (Lotsstyrelsen) submitted
to the Government a proposal for a revised scale of wages for the pilot
and lighthouse personnel. This scheme contained several new elements.
But, as it provided inter alia that the pilots should receive only 20 % of
the pilotage dues, and that their chief income should consist of their
fixed salary, it encountered stout opposition both from the shipping interest,
who were alarmed lest under the new arrangement the pilots should
lose interest in their work and consequently also their efficiency, and
from the pilots themselves, who declared that it would be impossible to
keep a wife and family under such miserable conditions.
The new scheme, which has been revised by a special committee, is to
be laid before the Riksdag.1
The Lighthouse Personnel. The lighthouse personnel has to attend to
the illumination of lighthouses: they must keep sea lights kindled from
sunset to sunrise, as long as navigation within the range of the light is
not impeded by solid ice; they have also to attend to fog-signalling. As
to the smaller lighthouses stationed in the waters of the shargdrds, and
which are only looked after once a week or more seldom being allowed
to burn on day and night, special lighting seasons are prescribed. The
1 Proposals have now been brought forward in the Riksdag for fixed scales of salary and
40 % of the pilot does, but have not yet been parsed (October 1914).