Lying beneath the floor of the bay and lengthening from the tip of Sandy Hook to the south shore of Long Island is a sequence of shoals that separate the sheltered estuary of New York Harbor from the deeper waters of the Atlantic; generally known as the Bar of Sandy Hook. For over three centuries the mariners tasked with guiding the ships throughout this bar have been generally known as Sandy Hook Pilots.

Sandy Hook Pilot Robert Blake, Jr. describes what it’s prefer to be a ship pilot working in New York Harbor. The video was produced by the Gothamist and launched together with the function story, How New York Harbor Pilots Master These Treacherous Waters.