A boat or (more commonly) small ship used (and generally built) to transport and transfer pilots to and from incoming and outgoing vessels at the limit of pilotage waters in outer estuaries. Traditionally, these have built for speed as pilotage services have often been sold commercially, and the first pilot to reach the vessel secured the traffic. Such sailing vessels were typically rigged as cutters, giving rise to the alternative name Pilot Cutter, and were also used for racing, More recent practice has been to station pilot vessels semi-permanently in harbour approaches, the pilots waiting on board for traffic. The previous practice remains in use, however, at those ports where pilots wait onshore, being transferred by fast Pilot Launches.
