Compulsory pilotage was implemented through Port State laws as a result of commercial pressure, which forced its introduction into English Statute Law in the early years of the nineteenth century, as a means by which the Port State could manage the risk to life and property presented by the massive growth in Britain's brave new maritime commerce, which had been helped so ably by the Napoleonic Wars. The risks to safe navigation in local waters was reposed in the knowledge and skills of a pilot experienced in the particular waters of a locality; as such pilotage became an important in the risk management process and, as a result, the Pilotage Act 1812 introduced the concept by statute. A century later, the relationship between those involved in pilotage changed dramatically with the Pilotage Act 1913, expressly overriding any conflicting provision in primary or secondary legislation, and providing that the Owner and Master of a vessel navigating in a compulsory navigation area shall be answerable for any loss or damage caused by the navigation of the vessel or by any fault of the navigation of the vessel in the same manner as he would if pilotage were not compulsory. This has been taken forward into current law by Section 16 of the Pilotage Act 1987, which provides that the fact that a ship is being navigated in a compulsory pilotage area shall not affect any liability of the Owner or Master of the ship for any loss or damage caused by the ship or by the manner in which it is navigated.