Why does the pilot boat LK Mitchell have the word Pilots written on its wheelhouse sides whilst the new pilot boat Arrow has only Pilot? A question posed by a few eagle-eyed waterfront observers.

Trawling through a large collection of pilot boat photographs from around the globe the favoured word is Pilots although a few European pilotage authorities use just Pilot. The Tees harbour authority who played a major role in writing the specification for the Falmouth boat obviously favour the singular.