Quick History of Sea Scouts

Compiled by Josh Green: Noteworthy Events have been bolded.

Did you know...

Jun. 1928
The pamphlet Aids for Sea Scout Leaders is available for 20 cents.

May 1929
Sea Scout Ship Old Ironsides of Chicago Council is named the first National Sea Scout Flagship. Skipper Louis Gloff reports that the Ship began in 1924 as a Sea Scout Patrol in Chicago Troop 17 and within a year and a half had grown so much that it was established as a separate Sea Scout Ship. Since then, Old Ironsides has worked through Second Class Ship rank and is now one of six First Class Ships in the country. Of the 33 boys in Old Ironsides, there are 1 Quartermaster, 9 Able Sea Scouts, 10 Ordinary Sea Scouts, 13 Apprentice Sea Scouts. Among these are 6 Eagle Scouts, 2 Life Scouts, and 5 Star Scouts. The Regional Flagship is the Sea Scout Ship Richard H. Dana, Portland, Oregon.

May 1934
The National Flagship is Sea Scout Ship Ranger of Portland, Oregon. The flag is presented before 20,000 people at the Rose Festival and the Ship is honored by receiving the following telegram from President Roosevelt: "Please convey to the Officers and Men of the National Sea Scout Flagship Ranger of Port-land, Oregon my hearty congratulations and sincere commenda-tion on their great achievement in being selected as the outstanding Sea Scout Ship in the United States."

[2 years later...]

May 21, 1936
The National Flagship is Sea Scout Ship Columbia, Skipper R. L. Burnett, of Portland, Oregon. S.S.S. Kansan, Skipper William C. Menninger, M.D., of Topeka, Kansas is named "Honorary National Flagship". The competition for National Flagship was so close that S.S.S. Silver Star has been named National Vice-Flagship and S.S.S. Sea Devil has been named National Rear Flagship.

Jun. 1936
Eagle Scout Owen W. Matthews [of Portland], III, a member of National Flagship S.S.S. Columbia, won the Eddie Canton $5,000 scholarship for his essay entitled, "How can American stay out of war". Presently Matthews is an Able Sea Scout, a Boatswain, and an Eagle Scout with Silver palm. Matthews' prize winning essay, chosen as the best from 212,000 submitted, was based on his two week experience at the fourth World Jamboree at Gödöllö, Hungary in 1933.

Dec. 31, 1938
The national membership of Sea Scouting has reached 23,437 Sea Scouts. Region VII has roughly 3,900 Sea Scouts, while Chicago Council has the largest Sea Scout membership at 1,216. Rounding out the top 10 councils are New York City (654), Portland (591), Boston (403), Los Angeles (394), San Francisco (376), St. Louis (375), Nassau County (346), Honolulu (280), and North Shore, Massachusetts (264).

1968
The BSA Exploring program, including Sea Exploring, becomes co-education-al. Now all Sea Explorer Ships may be either all male, all female, or co-ed. Co-ed Ships must have co-ed adult leadership.

1987
Sea Exploring celebrates its 75th anniversary. As part of the celebration, National Boatswain Quartermaster Melissa A. "Missy" Marenka presents the BSA Report to the Nation to President Ronald Reagan.

1987-1988
Four Sea Explorers, led by National Boatswain Missy Marenka of Hunts-ville, Alabama, cruise with 175 Coast Guard Cadets aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Barque Eagle to Australia and back. This cruise to Australia helps the United States pay its respects to Australia on the 200th anniversary of that country's settlement.

1988
The pamphlet How to Organize a Sea Explorer Ship, written by National Sea Explor-ing Director Forrest McVicar and Sea Exploring National Commit-teeman Bruce Johnson, is available.

Aug. 1989
Sea Exploring returns to the National Scout Jamboree after a 52-year absence National Committeeman Bruce Johnson organizes S.E.S. Thomas J. Keane, a hands-on, action exhibit area. Over 400 past and present Sea Scouts attend a "Sea Scout Reunion".

1996
The National Sea Exploring Committee creates a new leadership-training program for Sea Explorers. This course is called SEAL, which stands for Sea Explorer Advanced Leadership. SEAL is a weeklong training course taught at the regional level conducted at sea focusing on leadership skills. The course covers such topics as preparing, goal setting, organizing, supervising, commanding, communicating, training, motivating, and more.

Aug. 8, 1998
The Boy Scouts of America reorganizes the Exploring program into the Learning for Life Exploring program and the new Venturing Division. Sea Exploring is placed in the Venturing Division and returns to its traditional name: Sea Scouts.

1998
With the renaming of Sea Explorers to Sea Scouts, the SEAL course is renamed Sea Scout Advanced Leadership Training, but retains the SEAL acronym.

Oct. 1998
Jimmie S. Homberg becomes National Commodore, replacing CAPT. James Umberger who held the position for the previous 5 years.

Dec. 1, 1998
Charles Holmes accepts the position of director, Venturing Division, Program Group, effective December 1,1998. In cooperation with the national director of program, Mr. Holmes is to direct the development and administration of the Venturing program, including cooperation with related divisions and services in all program matters involving young adults of the Venturing age.

Feb. 1999
The Sea Scouting National Committee, Venturing Division, Boy Scouts of America resumes publication, after a 55 year interruption, of The National Sea Scout Log which first began in April 1936 but was suspended in September 1943.

Dec. 31,1999
There are 511 registered Sea Scout Ships [units] registered with the B.S.A.

2000
A 10th edition of the Sea Scout Manual, edited by Northeast Region Commodore Bruce Johnson and National Commodore Jimmie Homburg, is published, extensively revising the content and organization of the handbook, and updating advancement and uniform standards.

Dec. 31, 2001
There are 551 Sea Scout Ships [units] registered with the B.S.A.

2001
The Skipper's Key Award returns as a separate recognition for Sea Scout skippers who have been skippers for at least three years, have completed required training, and whose units meet certain minimum standards. A distinctive Skipper's Key was first instituted in December 1939 but had been replaced with the generic Scouter's Key in the 1950's.

Jan. 14, 2002
National Sea Scout Commodore Jimmie S. Homberg announces the resumption of the National Sea Scout Flagship competition to recognize the top Sea Scout Ship in the country. Score sheets are also provided so that any Ship meeting the criteria for "Local Standard Ship," "Regional Standard Ship," or "National Standard Ship" can be recognized by affixing 2, 3, or 4 stars respectively to their Ship's flag. SSS INVINCIBLE, Sea Scout Ship 502 from Houston, TX becomes the 2002 National Flagship.

Jul. 27, 2002
Over 500 Sea Scouts from Sea Scout Ships in 14 states, gather in New York City for ScoutFleet 2002 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Sea Scouting in the U.S. with a parade of Sea Scout vessels from their base at the aircraft carrier USS INTERPID to the Statue of Liberty. Sea Scout vessels from 10 states make the journey to New York City for the occasion by sea.

Aug. 2002
The National Sea Scouting Committee re-initiates the national Sea Scout sailing championships. The new competition, called the William I. Koch International Sea Scout Cup, is named for William Koch, famous yachtsman and National Committee member, whose generous support makes the competition possible The Koch Cup competition includes Sea Scout competitors from all over the United States, as well as international Sea Scout participants, and is held at the Columbia Yacht Club in Chicago, Illinois.

Dec. 31, 2002
Between December 31, 1998 and December 31, 2002 (the four years since the creation of the Venturing Division of the B.S.A.), Sea Scouting (the 1208 specialty code within the Division) has seen a 20.9% membership increase and a 12.5% increase in the number of Ships [units]

April 28, 2003
Sunsail, Portland Oregon, takes over all winner at the area regatta. All ships earn Schooner or Clipper class, first time ever.

Works Cited:
SSS 202 cannot be responsible for any external content. Due to the changing nature of the world wide web, some links may be broken. There will be no attempt to update them because they serve as a bibliography from when the above information was compiled

Marc Degl'Innocenti, The History of the Sea Scouts (No Date). http://wwwangelfire.com/sc/cuttermorris/page101.html [22 January 2003].

Michael R. Bowman, Sea Scout Advanced Leadership Training (1996-) (29 March 2002). http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Falls/8826/seal.html [22 January 2003].

"Venturing Director Appointed," The National Sea Scout Log, Vol. IX No. I, February 1999, p. 4.

Jimmie Homberg, "FROM THE BRIDGE - Commodore's Report," The National Sea Scout Log, Vol. IX No. I, February 1999, p. 1.

William R. James, "The Editor's Sea Bag", The National Sea Scout Log, Vol. IX No. I, February 1999, p. 2.

Michael R. Bowman, Sea Scouts (1998-Present) (9 October 2002). http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Falls/8826/seascout98.html [22 January 2003].

Michael R. Brown, Sea Scouts (1998-Present) (9 October 2002). http://wwwgeocities.com/Yosemite/Falls/8826/seascout98.html [22 January 2003].

Michael R. Brown, Sea Scouts (1998-Present) (9 October 2002). http://wwwgeocities.com/Yosemite/Falls/8826/seascout98.html [22 January 2003].

"Skipper's Key Returns," The National Sea Scout Log, January 2002, Vol. X No 1, p. 5

Jimmie Homberg, "National Flagship Competition and Sea Scout Ship Achievement Scoresheet" [Letter to Scout Executives and all professional staff members] (14 January 2002).

Bruce C. Johnson, National Sea Scout Flag Competition (12 September 2002). http://www.seascout.org/ships/flagships.html [22 January 2003].

David Mosher, "ScoutFleet 2002", The Telegraph, Northeast Region Sea Scouting Committee, Vol. 7 No. 2, December 2002, p. 4.

Bruce C. Johnson, The History of Sea Scouting in the United States (18 May 2002). http://www.seascout.org/about/history.html [22 January 2003].

Bruce C. Johnson , Re: A Chronology of Sea Scouting in the United States - Is there something missing? Numbers of Registered Sea Scouts? [Email to George Hay Kain, III ] (22 January 2003).

Michael R. Bowman, Sea Exploring (1966-98) (3 January 2002). http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Falls/8826/seaexplorer66.html [22 January 2003].

Most information was pulled from a comprehesvise list at http://www.seascout.net/pa/pa-25/a_chronology.html compiled byGeorge Hay Kain, III, Skipper, SSS YORKSHIRE - Sea Scout Ship 25, York, PA