pilot boat

noun, a boat used by a pilot to meet incoming vessels; a boat of the type used by pilots (OED)

“The pilot boat was there, and they brought him in, and he never went back.”

“He also had the pilot boat for awhile that would put the pilots on and off the lake boats.”

“Dad said one day the ferry was out of service, and he was running back and forth with the pilot boat. And they were coming into the dock, and he never slowed down or nothing; he just took the dock stem-on. And Pop said everybody in the back of the boat moved to the front just like that.”