US Cruiser Brooklyn 1897 Postcard

Pilot Boat New York with US Cruiser Brooklyn 1897 The work of pilots can be traced back to Ancient Greece and Rome, and would be employed to bring trading vessels into port safely. Pilot boats are used to transport maritime pilots between land and the ships they are piloting. They were once sailing boats that had to be fast because the first pilot to reach the incoming ship got the business. A pilot works primarily within a harbor or port, guiding the boat through hazardous stretches.. The USS Brooklyn was the third armored cruiser of the United States Navy. It was commissioned in 1859. On April 4, 1887, Rear Admiral Chandler transferred his flag to the USS Brooklyn. It was the only armored cruiser to be named for a city rather than a state. It served in the Atlantic during World War II as a convoy escort and fire support for amphibious landings and was decommissioned in 1947 and transferred to the Chilean Navy in 1951. It sank under during tow to a scrapyard in 1992