The Guild of the Holy Compassion held their annual Ceremony at Sea yesterday, honouring the memory of Pilot Jemmy Darrell and remembering those lost at sea.

Pilot Darrell, a Bermudian slave, was granted his freedom after successfully guiding HMS Resolution — a huge British warship — through the reefs on the orders of Admiral Sir George Murray.

Dr Derek Tully said: “If this venture had gone wrong, and Admiral Murray’s ship Resolution had been lost, the Admiral would have been taken back to London in chains, and hanged by the British Admiralty. The Admiral obviously had the utmost confidence in the abilities of Pilot Darrell when Resolution was entrusted to him.”

For his actions, Mr Darrell was appointed as a King’s Pilot and awarded his freedom by the British Crown. He later became the first black property owner in St George’s.

During yesterday’s ceremony, Marine Pilot Mario Thompson — playing Pilot Darrell in 18th century period dress — boarded the Norwegian Breakaway at Dockyard, which sailed down the Channel to meet a pilot boat in St David’s.

Once there, the ships met, with Mr Thompson crossing onto the pilot boat. Prayers were then held and wreaths cast into the ocean while cruise ship passengers looked on.

Dr Tully said the ceremony was touching and captured the attention of the passengers on board the Breakaway.

“Mr Thompson was spectacularly received by the passengers,” Dr Tully said. “They were lining the cruise ship. It was really spectacular to see him in 18th century clothes on board a 21st century ship, navigating the same reefs that Jemmy Darrell did. It was very symbolic and it was great watching it. It was quite emotional for everybody watching it.”

The annual ceremony began after a pilot gig was lost off the East End in 1927 while on the way to pilot a ship into the main channel. The gig was found a week later near Elbow Beach, but the bodies of the crew men were never recovered.

The Guild originally carried out the ceremony at a special Seamen’s Plot in the St George’s Graveyard, but it was moved to the waters off St David’s Head after the cargo ship Lloyd Bermuda was lost in a storm in 1988. While some of the crew on that vessel were rescued by a passing ship and taken to Bermuda, many of the others were lost.

Days later the surviving crew members took part in a ceremony at sea near Five Fathom Hole, and the Guild has continued that tradition ever since.