PHOTOS: Ferrying the port pilots

Martin Maher maneuvers his boat through Los Angeles Harbor in the early morning darkness. Maher’s job is to deliver port pilots to incoming container ships.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A port pilot climbs a rope ladder dangling from the side of a freighter that he’ll guide to its berth.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Deckhand Robin Craig, left, helps one of the pilot boat captains to board a yacht owned by Bill Gates.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Mark Hansen guides his pilot boat toward a freighter in Los Angeles Harbor.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Mark Hansen and Martin Maher take the boat Stephen M. White on an early morning cruise through L.A. Harbor. The Stephen M. White is a 53-foot boat with twin turbo-charged 600-horsepower engines.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Morning rush hour for Martin Maher lasts from about 4 a.m. to 8 a.m., when container ships begin lining up for entry or departure.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Martin Maher, left, and Mark Hansen will be taking early retirement from their jobs operating pilot boats in Los Angeles Harbor. “Storms, swell, rain and darkness, bouncing off the side of a huge ship -- it’s an adrenaline rush,” Hansen says.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Mark Hansen, left, and Martin Maher both say they’ll miss their jobs as pilot boat operators. But, as Hansen says, “the guys we replaced had also 30 years on the job.”  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)