Veteran pilot Ray Fox has come a long way from being a teenager swabbing the decks of the old Government tugs St. Brendan and St. George .

After 35 years, Mr. Fox was recently promoted to senior pilot by Marine and Ports Services -- entrusted with the lives of thousands of cruise ship passengers.

Losing power to all controls at a crucial time while piloting a passenger ship and nearly being crushed by a nuclear submarine are among the more astounding of his recollections.

Mr. Fox started his career at age 16 working on pilot boats until he was promoted in 1966 to apprentice pilot.

At that time Mr. Fox was working on the old tug Justice with Meyer Agencies.

He then started going to sea on the Poinciana which left from Convict Bay, St.

George's for New York, then Baltimore, before returning to Bermuda.

After a variety of tours on different ships, Mr. Fox earned his junior pilot's licence in January, 1969 and soon after going back to work for Marine and Ports became a first class pilot. Since then Mr. Fox has been taking various simulator courses both here and in New York, working to obtain his senior piloting licence.

The most recent courses he completed from the Marine Institute of Technology were "Bridge Resource Management for Pilots'' and "Ship Causality Cases and Near Misses''.

Mr. Fox has a scrap book of memories and numerous tales during his years of experience.

One the most terrifying moments he recalled was when he was almost crushed between his pilot boat and the nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror while trying to cross over between the two boats.

Mr. Fox also remembered the time he was bringing in a passenger ship through the channel and the ship lost power, shutting down all the control systems.

Even though the power returned before any possible disaster, Mr. Fox said: "In those situations it takes a lot of confidence. But I have long had the confidence for the job.'' Through the years Mr. Fox has noticed a lot of changes, especially advances in technology.

"Back then we didn't have all the equipment that we do now, the equipment that makes the job a lot easier,'' he said.

He also noted ships today were much bigger and carried more people. But he added they were also much more manoeuvrable.

"You used to have to turn 20 to 35 degrees on older ships while today you use about three to five degrees at the most'' Mr. Fox explained.

With his new promotion Mr. Fox will be responsible for piloting the larger ships to Bermuda such as the Queen Elizabeth II which carries at least 2,000 passengers.

And he will also be responsible for training junior pilots.

While a native of St. David's, Mr. Fox resides in Tamarind Vale, Warwick with two of his seven children.

Reflecting on his accomplishments and career, he smiled and said: "I can not imagine having done anything different with my life.''