Grover Sanschagrin, 90, respected docking pilot, dies

The son of a barge captain, Grover A. Sanschagrin was born on the water and went on to become the most esteemed of the pilots guiding large vessels through New York Harbor.

The Lattingtown resident, who died last Sunday at age 90 of leukemia, was so skilled that he specialized in the demanding job of docking pilot. He would move ships into and out of their slips, leaving the remainder of the trip in or out of the harbor to other pilots.

"He was the most respected man in New York Harbor," said Capt. Robert Flannery, president of Metro Pilots Association, an organization of pilots that Sanschagrin headed four different times during his 64-year career. "He was a living legend. They used to call him 'The Maestro' because he rode a ship like a maestro conducts an orchestra. There was nobody better."

Between 1943 and his retirement in 2007, Sanschagrin directed more than 53,000 ships to their berths. "He docked more ships in New York than anyone else ever has, and it doesn't appear to me that that record is ever going to be broken given his tremendously long time on the job" and the reduced number of ships docking in New York in recent years, said Ned Moran, senior vice president for Moran Towing Corp., the company that employed Sanschagrin. He continued to work part-time as a consultant for Moran until a few months before his death.

Sanschagrin's reputation was such that he was featured in a History Channel documentary, and the shipping line Cunard insisted he dock its liners. "He's the best pilot on the river," Queen Elizabeth 2 captain John Burton-Hall said for a 1996 article when Newsday watched Sanschagrin back the liner into the Hudson River.

It was natural for Sanschagrin to pursue a maritime career. His grandfather was a seaman and his French-Canadian father was an upstate canal tug and barge captain. The family moved to New York City when Sanschagrin was about 10. He went to work on barges for his brother-in-law at 14, getting his formal education at PS 29 in Manhattan during the winters.

He worked his way up to barge captain, then became a deckhand and mate on tugs. He was a Navy torpedoman in 1942 when an explosion resulted in a medical discharge and his return to tugs. By 1943 he was a tug captain and began working as a docking pilot. He said he liked docking because it was the most challenging part of piloting where "inches count."

"His safety record was perfection," Moran said. Not one accident could be attributed to Sanschagrin's commands. As to what made Sanschagrin such a good pilot, Moran said, "he was calm, he was thoughtful, he was a clear communicator and he never, never got flustered."

Sanschagrin's son, Grover Jr., said "there was nothing this man could not do."

"He was so knowledgeable about so many things. He was a carpenter; he built his house," Grover said. He was also a partner in his son's restaurant, Grover's, in Locust Valley in the early 1970s.

He is survived by his wife of more than 30 years, Jacqueline; daughters Kathy Griffin of Bayville and Michele Hines-Peterman of Commerce Township, Mich.; sons Grover Jr. of Morgantown, V.Wa., and Dennis of Sun City West, Ariz.; four stepchildren, Nicole, Tiffany, Steven, and Stacey; a sister, Rosemond McIntyre of Brooklyn; 17 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Burial was Friday at Locust Valley Cemetery after a funeral Mass at St. Patrick's Church, Glen Cove.