What It's Like To Be...

A Harbor Pilot


Listen Later

Scaling three-story rope ladders up the sides of ships, memorizing every rock and current in a harbor, and narrowly avoiding catastrophic collisions with Captain Grant Livingstone, a retired harbor pilot. What do you do when your engine and anchors fail in heavy fog? And how do you dock a ship the size of the Empire State Building?

Grant and his twin brother Captain George Livingstone co-authored the recent book Shiphandling, The Beautiful Game.

IF YOU LIKE THIS EPISODE: Check out what it's like to be a long-haul trucker, an ocean lifeguard, or a London cabbie.

Learn more about StoryCorps and the Story Preservation Initiative at their websites.

GOT A COMMENT OR SUGGESTION? Email us at [email protected]

WANT TO BE ON THE SHOW? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

1. What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

2. What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

What It's Like To Be...By Dan Heath

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

630 ratings


More shows like What It's Like To Be...

View all
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! by NPR

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

38,631 Listeners

Radiolab by WNYC Studios

Radiolab

43,917 Listeners

This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,657 Listeners

Planet Money by NPR

Planet Money

30,898 Listeners

Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics Radio

32,202 Listeners

99% Invisible by Roman Mars

99% Invisible

26,134 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,390 Listeners

Revisionist History by Pushkin Industries

Revisionist History

59,318 Listeners

Choiceology with Katy Milkman by Charles Schwab

Choiceology with Katy Milkman

1,437 Listeners

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda by Alan Alda

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

3,750 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

15,954 Listeners

Short Wave by NPR

Short Wave

6,248 Listeners

The Best Advice Show by Zak Rosen

The Best Advice Show

363 Listeners

People I (Mostly) Admire by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

People I (Mostly) Admire

2,137 Listeners

The Economics of Everyday Things by Freakonomics Network & Zachary Crockett

The Economics of Everyday Things

1,589 Listeners