Pilot

Even in the Internet age, there's still a huge romantic buzz about a great ship.

And as she manoeuvres her vast bulk round the buoys and bars of our great ports, both the sleek liner and the towering container vessel will usually draw a crowd.

Keen sailor Libby Purves takes to the water to tell a little-known story.

She meets the ships' pilots - the men and women whose job it is to guide these big ships safely home in the best and the worst of weathers....and out to sea again...

Producer: Simon Elmes

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2008.