After nearly four decades at the helm, Whit Smith — arguably the longest-serving president of a U.S. harbor pilots association — is hanging up his captain’s hat.
Smith, who served as president of the Charleston Branch Pilots Association since 1986, officially retired Dec. 31 from the organization that guides container ships and other vessels in and out of the port.
Crayton Walters, who’s been with the group for nearly 35 years, took over the top spot when the calendar turned to 2023.
Whit Smith
“I know I can keep going from a physical standpoint,” said Smith, who turns 79 in February. “But, you know, I want to be able to go visit out-of-town grandchildren and do things that I haven’t been able to do whenever I want to do them. I didn’t want to get into a situation where I look back and say, ‘Why didn’t I do this three years ago, or five years ago’. I need to leave on top and on my terms.”
Much of Smith’s lengthy tenure with the harbor pilots has coincided with his appointment to the State Ports Authority’s board of directors, where he’s served since 1999, including a stint as chairman.
A Charleston native and graduate of The Citadel, Smith said he’ll continue his current term — which runs through 2024 — with the board that oversees the agency that owns and operates the Port of Charleston.
And, if he’s up to it, he’s eligible to serve another four-year term.
But for now, Smith said he’s looking forward to traveling, spending time with his family and fixing up a 190-year-old home in the tiny Town of Rockville on Wadmalaw Island.
“I have a house right next to the yacht club literally 10 feet from the water,” Smith said. “I’m 15 miles from the grocery store, and there’s no traffic or tourists, but I do have a workshop and plenty of projects to do.”
With the given name Whitemarsh Seabrook Smith — a family moniker that he’s the third generation to carry — it seems inevitable he’d be destined for a life on the ocean. But his job with the harbor pilots came about almost by accident.
From school to sea
After graduating from The Citadel with a degree in business administration, Smith had been working alongside his father at the family-owned Port City Glass and Mirror when he got a call — “out of the blue,” as he tells it — from the harbor pilots association about a potential apprenticeship. He’d done a bit of sailboat racing as a student and he knew some of the pilots from competitions, but the association at the time was cliquish.
“Back in those days, it was very father, son, cousin, brother, next door neighbor — and I didn’t match up with any of those,” Smith said. He had written to the association saying he’d be interested in applying, but wasn’t expecting much. Then the call came.
“I told them I needed to talk to my father, because I was working with him,” Smith recalled. “My father said, ‘You know, that’s probably something I would have loved to have done. You ought to try it, and if you don’t like it you can come back to work with me’.”
Smith never turned back. He joined the association as an apprentice in 1969 and was licensed in February 1972, joining other pilots who board container ships and other vessels before they enter Charleston Harbor to guide them to their destination. He was elected president in 1980 and again in 1987 — a position he held until his retirement. Since 1992, he also served as secretary-treasurer of the American Pilots Association in Washington, D.C.
During his second stint as the association’s president, Smith got the call from then-Gov. Jim Hodges to serve on the SPA board, which, surprisingly had never had a member whose livelihood was directly tied to the waterfront up until that point.
Smith remembers his appointment as another of those almost-by-accident occurrences that have helped to shape his fate.
“I live next door to (former Charleston Mayor) Joe Riley, and one day he called and said a friend from the Legislature was thinking about running for governor and would I come by his office to meet him,” Smith said. Riley’s friend turned out to be Hodges, a decided underdog as a Democrat aiming for the highest office in one of the South’s reddest states.
“Jim had always said, ‘If I’m elected, I want to put you on the board because there’s never been anybody from the waterfront with the authority,” Smith said.
Hodges kept that promise, and Smith joined the board in 1999, serving as chairman from 2001-04.
‘Fun years’
It was a tumultuous period at the port. A proposal to build a new container terminal on Daniel Island was scuttled after it faced fierce opposition from neighborhood groups, environmentalists and politicians. Bernie Groseclose, the SPA’s former CEO, resigned in the midst of steady drops in business and a loss of confidence by his board.
The port’s top customer, Maersk Line, was threatening to pull its ships out of Charleston altogether and Hodges’ successor, Gov. Mark Sanford, was pushing to privatize the waterfront.
“Those were the fun years on the port,” Smith said facetiously. “But we all survived it.”
There have been better times since. Smith was on the search committee that hired Jim Newsome in 2009 to be the SPA’s president and CEO. Newsome, who retired last year, led a turnaround at the port that continues under Barbara Melvin, who took over the top job on July 1.
“I am so happy that Barbara is where she is running the place,” Smith said.
The feeling is mutual, with Melvin calling Smith one of the port’s most steadfast supporters.
“He has worked to open doors and create opportunities in our maritime industry,” Melvin said. “His leadership has helped ensure Charleston Harbor’s enduring success. We are so grateful for his service, and especially, for his friendship.”
Bill Stern, the SPA’s current chairman, joined the board in 2001 while Smith was serving in the top role. He credits Smith’s steady leadership and maritime knowledge as keys to the port’s resurgence, adding he’s been a trusted adviser who’s not shy about sharing his thoughts on difficult decisions.
In October, Gov. Henry McMaster presented Smith with the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor.
Smith’s role with the board has made for a few uncomfortable family moments. His wife, Anne, was a past president of Historic Charleston Foundation at a time when the group was fighting the SPA’s plans to build a new cruise ship terminal on the peninsula, and “she really had to bite her tongue,” Smith said, because she didn’t share the foundation’s view.
“She got beat up pretty bad from that side,” Smith said, adding he and his wife remain foundation supporters and often open their downtown residence to guests during the group’s home-tour fundraisers.
Stepping away from the pilots association will give the Smiths more time to spend with their three daughters and six grandchildren. And more travel is in the mix, with Anne Smith jokingly telling her husband — who’s lived in the same ZIP code his entire life — that he needs to broaden his horizons.
First up on the itinerary — a trip to Iceland in June. In fitting fashion, it’s a place surrounded by water.
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