In this age of high pressure steam and electrical wonders, the average naval man is so weighted down with the yoke of scientific organization, and intensive operation that he forgets the historical component of his life's work. There can be no greater aid to morale than a clear understanding of the indomitable fighting spirit of the American sailor man of the past. The early whale and ocean carrying trade was developed as necessary for the life of the struggling nation; then came the navy with its long list of glorious victories and accomplishments in protecting brother sailormen and dependent industries. This long struggle on old ocean in the early days of American seagoing developed a distinct seafaring race, and the descendants of these men were born with a love of the sea, and a wholesome respect for its traditions. In practically any city in the United States you can find a number of men who are proud of their salt water blood. These men don't think in terms of the navy, merchant marine or fishing fleets.—Their ideals have grown from thoughts and tales of the Constitution, The West Indian pirates, a dead whale or a stove boat, the Flying Cloud and the gold fever. "Away you Rolling Rio!" It is to these men that the navy owes cooperation in developing their ideals by means of the sea scout movement.
The Sea Scouts are a part of the Boy Scouts of America, operated just as all other departments, under the authority of the national council through its executive board and the chief sea scout. The diagram on the following page shows the organization and there are also listed the national, honorary, and active officials.
Sea scouting can be taken up in any good-sized town or small city. It will be seen from the diagram that in starting sea scouting, the start is made with the local council. As boy scouting has been established throughout the United States, the local council is already in existence and may be expanded as necessary to handle the additional work which sea scouting imposes.
The scout executive, who is secretary of the local council, issues a call to members of the council to meet in the interests of forming a sea scout organization. The council meets and the executive board of the local council is empowered to start the movement.
The local sea scout shipping board is made up of and operates under the executive board. The shipping board consists of three or four men who are interested in the navy and marine matters and who may be counted on to attend meetings fairly regularly and push sea scouting.
The squadron pilot is the local boy scout executive, his other duties are active secretary of the local council and secretary of the shipping board.
The portmaster is a citizen of salt water blood or sea-going experience. He is the chairman of the shipping board.
The scoutmaster or "skipper" is the mainspring of the organization. He must be an experienced seaman. A navy recruiting officer, a retired officer or reserve officer, a retired boatswain or gunner, a retired member of the merchant marine, or a yachtsman. The skipper plans the work, executes the work, and brings the ship to practical efficiency.
The sea scout ship consists of one or more boat crews with nine men in a boat crew. The crew numbers are from one to nine, and are billeted as follows: Coxswain, messman, yeoman, baker, signalman, waterman, handyman, shipsmith and sailmaker.
The local council approves of the program of seascouting and the shipping board, pilot, portmaster, ship committee, and skipper are ready to begin work.
The ship committee is composed of the same members as the shipping board, until a number of sea scout ships have been organized, when the ship committee is formed to look out for the interests of the individual ships.
A good-sized room or small hall is secured, and invitations are issued to all boy scouts, 15 years of age, or over, weighing at least 112 pounds. The time, place and date of the first meeting are specified. At the first meeting the plans for the local ship are discussed and names of volunteers listed. All volunteers are registered as apprentice sea scouts. The shipping board applies through the local council to the national council for charter for the ship, and upon issuing the charter the skipper is commissioned by national headquarters.
The hall is converted into the deck of a ship. The following equipment must be provided before the next weekly meeting; seascout ship flag, Seascout Manual, Bluejacket's Manual, small ensign, ship's bell, old running lights, small amount of canvas, palm and needles, marline, manila line, thread, compass, barometer, thermometer, jackstay, fids, broom, bucket, lantern, old steering wheel, blackboard and chalk. Having secured a small amount of gear and lots of pep, the ship is ready to be launched and sail forth on the seas of good fellowship, citizenship and seamanship.
The most difficult part has been accomplished and from now on the Seascout Manual supplies the sailing directions by which the ship is steered. Turning through the pages the skipper finds the following work to be done:
Schedule of Work
The Sloop Class work is the first work to be accomplished and is the class that allows the boys to get acquainted with one another. In this class come many things already known to the first-class boy scout; signaling, first aid, compass—but there are many new things, and review is always beneficial. It is in the winter that the following sea training takes place:
1. The mariner's compass—simple principles and boxing by whole points.
2. Make a hardwood fid 8 inches long, and i inch wide at base, sand paper and oil.
3. Make a three-strand eye, back, and short splice. Make a grommet. Using a palm and needle make the following stitches in a piece of canvas; round flat-overhand and herringbone. Whip the end of a rope with needle whipping.
4. Know the meaning of the. following bos'n's orders: "All Hands"; "Up All Hammocks"; "Mess Gear"; "Sweepers"; "Pipe to Mess"; "Away Running Boats"; ''Side Boys"; "Haul Away, Hoist Away, Belay."
5. Become familiar with following types of small boats: Punt, catamaran, balsa, wherry, dory, dinghy, "Clinker," "Carvel" and "Diagonal" builds. Scantlings and fittings of small boats cutters, sloops.
6. Anchors, bower, sheet, stream, kedge, mushroom, sea anchor, grapnels, chain cable, swivels, shackles. At Camp, or when boats are available:
7. Sleep in the open or under canvas six nights.
8. Learn parts of an oar and commands for boat under oars "Stand by your oars; shove off; out oars; stand by to give way give way together; feather your oars; in bow; lay on your oars; up oars; let fall; trail oars; hold water; back water; point the oars pull a dry oar."
9. Blocks—made, mortised, snatch, gin, secret, two-three- fold.
10. Rules of the road.
11. Buoys.
12. Barometer and clouds, swimming and life saving. It will be seen that this schedule, allowing one subject for each weekly meeting, will consume from four to five months. When this work is completed the boy is a real sea scout, is a practical little sailor, and wants to absorb more sea knowledge. After a thorough examination each boy is issued a certificate showing him to be "an ordinary sea scout."
The Schooner Class having qualified as an ordinary sea scout and having a minimum strength of 18 men in the ship, the next step is to actually sail and row on the ocean, lake, pond or river. This work is not as comprehensive as that of Sloop Class, and can be accomplished in from six to eight weeks.
1. Draw compass circle. Draw outline of ship and name the ahead to astern bearings by points. Describe the liquid compass; dry compass.
2. Sketch the following type of vessels: Schooner, brig, bark, ship.
3. Make three trips in a pulling boat covering 10 miles. Prove knowledge of orders and boat handling.
4. Sea scout ship etiquette, discipline and ceremonies.
5. Make a sea bag 30 inches long and 10 inches in diameter. Make a three-strand tapered eye splice and worm parcel and serve the same. Make a chain and a long splice.
6. Drill by sections from scout "Manual of Drills."
7. Learn the Beaufort scale.
8. Reeve off a luff tackle, mouse a hook.
9. Anchors, cat and fish falls, deck stoppers.
10. Make models to demonstrate rules of the road. Anchor lights for sail and steam vessels.
11. International code flags and storm signals.
After a thorough examination each man is given a certificate showing him to be an able sea scout.
When the sloop and schooner class work has been successfully accomplished sea scouting is on a firm basis. This work should not necessitate over six months. Therefore when organized in the fall, the crew of able sea scouts are ready when summer arrives to embark on a real cruise. Boats can be obtained from the Navy Department, and sails can be made in case some navy bos'n is available to help the work along. Complete schooner rig sails, with spars for the Syracuse sea scouts were made at a cost of $50.00 (two outfits). These two cutters will serve for other sea scout ships that may be organized. When the boats are equipped a cruise is planned and the real joy of sea scouting begins. A camp site on some nearby lake is selected and the shipping board makes plans for establishing camp. Each scout must pay about 60 cents a day for his food. All arrangements being completed, the skipper and crews embark and establish camp. It is the ideal vacation for the young American,—sailing, watch duty, swimming, woodcraft, rowing, and physical drill.
The next step in sea scouting is the barkentine class:
Barkentine Class.—The barkentine class work is the next to be undertaken by able seascouts. A small part of this can be given in camp, but the major part will come when work is resumed in the city headquarters.
When the men qualify as able sea scouts they automatically become barkentine class sailors. As has been previously explained, six months during the fall, winter and spring is sufficient to take a green hand through sloop and schooner classes, so that all belong to the barkentine class when the cruise starts.
1. Show by models the rules of the road for large steam vessels.
2. Make and mark a hand lead line, "dipsey lead."
3. Make a chip log; sketch a patent log rotator.
4. International code flag signals.
5. Charts, variation and deviation.
6. Make a square topsail "flatten down", "let fly", "reel."
7. Reeve off a twofold purchase.
8. Make model of life-boat capable of being released. Use of oil during heavy weather.
9. Marlinespike seamanship from Knight's Seamanship.
10. Make a one week's cruise in a small boat and submit a 500-word log.
11. School of the troop—"B. S. A. Manual."
After a thorough examination men are given a certificate showing them to be extra sea scouts.
The next steps are Bark Class and Ship Class, but as sea scouting in the United States is still in its infancy, these will not be described here. This article is written with the hope that readers will become interested in the sea scout movement and, if occasion permits, personally lend a hand to some nearby struggling sloop or schooner class.
What Sea Scouting Means.—Sea scouting like all boy scouting, has as its paramount objective "The development of sound patriotic, moral and physical principles in the great army of future citizens, now known as Young America."
The scout oath is:
On my honor, I will do my best:
1. To do my duty to God and my Country, and to obey the Scout Law;
2. To help other people at all times;
3. To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
Boy scouting is coming into a high state of development throughout the United States. Thousands of troops are working and turning out good citizens and good thinkers. Generally speaking with boys from 12 to 15 years of age the results have been wonderful. It is for the boys over 14 years of age that sea scouting was started. The interest of this class of boys cannot be kept with straight scouting when the dance hall, pool room, and "do-nothing evenings" begin to exert their influence. Sea scouting is helping to fight these influences by providing healthy work and amusement that will put boys in the employable class.
At the present time a great many qualified and highly trained boy scouts are being lost to the scout movement. A successful sea scout organization is the answer to this loss of boys. Sea scouting is struggling for its life. Trained men are needed for its development. The recruiting service of the navy is ideally situated to render effective help without any complicated orders, extra details, or one cent of additional expense. The only thing necessary is to have the recruiting officer and a boatswain or gunner devote two or three hours a week to help develop a strong scout ship in the city in which the main recruiting station is situated. With a strong ship in the larger cities, many ships in the smaller cities can be developed. Retired or inactive navy men can be looked up to handle the smaller ships. The work is interesting and it is work that helps the government at all times.
The World War has left the navy with no strong naval reserve organization. The American Legion is absorbing thousands of navy men in posts where it is mostly all army and army deeds. The wonderful work of the Legion is not questioned in the slightest, but if "The race o' sailors is dying out" it is high time that the navy and merchant marine devote a small amount of time and thought to the development of the "American sailor of the future." The second line of naval defense is assured when the possibilities of sea scouting are realized.