Sea Scout Branch

From Scouting

The Nautical Branch of Venturing.

Description

From wikipedia: In the Sea Scouts program in the Boy Scouts of America, "Quartermaster" is the highest rank a Sea Scout can earn. It is earned after meeting the following criteria: attendance at two thirds of all Ship meetings for 18 months, demonstration of marlinspike seamanship and leadership skills, completion of a service project (similar to an Eagle Scout project, but utilizing the Sea Scouts in the Ship, along with members of another community group), and passing a Board of Review (similar to that of an Eagle Scout Board of Review), which is conducted at the Council level. Also, a Quartermaster must demonstrate the ability to teach many of the requirements in the other ranks to other scouts.

Quartermasters wear a medal consisting of the Sea Scout emblem on a ship's wheel, and suspended from a solid dark blue ribbon. The ribbon itself is suspended from a double carrick bend knot, mimicking the scroll and square knot on the Eagle Scout medal.

Sea Scouts who earn this rank are entitled to wear a uniform similar to that of a United States Navy Chief Petty Officer (CPO), and can earn advance rank upon enlistment into the U.S. Navy or United States Coast Guard.

Uniform and Rank

Like Boy Scouts and Scouting in general, Sea Scouting has a number of ranks.

A Scout who earns the first rank, Apprentice, shows basic knowledge of the water. S/he must have basic marlinspike seamenship skills and water knowledge.

The second rank, Ordinary, shows that the scout is much more knowledgable. To attain this rank, the scout must know how to box a compass, have leadership qualities, complete any number of requirements relating to drill, sailing, engines, or the like and be in the ship for at least a year.

The third rank, Able, is much more difficult to attain. The scout has to have complete knowledge of the water, and be able to command his or her fellow scouts. Also, s/he must have the Livesaving merit badge.

Quartermaster, which is the Sea Scout equivalent of Eagle, is extremely difficult to attain. Just over 10 Scouts earn this badge each year. To get Quartermaster a scout must be able to lead all of his/her fellow scouts, teach skills learned in previous merit badges, and show a knowledge of the water on many different levels.

A Sea Scout will earn Venturing rank just by earning Sea Scout rank e.g. An Ordinary makes Bronze, Able makes Gold, and Quartermaster makes Silver.

The Sea Scout uniform varies like its military counterparts depending upon season and circumstance - for any number of different events a different uniform will be worn.

A Class B is any uniform shirt. It may come with a hat and/or pants or shorts - typically denim pants and a light blue chambray shirt. These are worn the majority of the time for Sea Scout events.

Class A uniforms are the most formal. These are only worn on dress occasions in Sea Scouts, such as an Awards Ceremony (called a Landship) or special Sea Scouting events. Usually, Sea Scouts do not wear Class A uniforms to meetings. There is no official Sea Scout supply source, so uniforms are usually bought from Navy surplus.

The first type of Class A is made up of a white Navy-style cap ("dixie cup"), white jumper-top, white belt, neckerchief, white jumper-style pants, and black dress shoes. This uniform is worn during the summer and is similar to the U. S. Navy uniform with different patches.

The second is the Winter Blue uniform which is virtually the same as above, except in Navy Blue (black) with broadfall pants (bellbottoms). This is worn during winter, from late-October until April.

Third, is the Salt and Pepper, which is a White-shirt, modeled after the Boy Scout Class A Shirt, with the same patch locations and buttons, with a "dixie cup" cover, Navy blue pants (or shorts), black belt, and black dress shoes.

Different ships will chose different uniforms depending on their needs, however the Whites are the most recognized Sea Scout Uniform. Officially, Salt and Peppers, are not recognized under National Sea Scouting Standards.

Some ships, noteably Ship 84 Typhoon, have gone out of their way to fail uniform inspections by wearing red and green socks (on the wrong feet) instead of the proscribed black ones.

Activities and Meetings

Sea Scout Ships chose what their main focus will be. Most Ships will chose a sailing focus and mainly do sailing activities. Ships, can however, be focused on any number of water activities including: Motor Boating, SCUBA, Swimming, Fishing, Surfing, etc. This focus dictates the activities the Ship will partake in.

Meetings tend to be similar to Boy Scout meetings. The Boatswain (Youth Leader, like the Senior Patrol Leader) will start the meeting off with minutes from the previous meeting, to be lead by the Yeoman (Secratary, writes notes of meetings), followed by reports from the Purser (Treasurer), Storekeeper (Quartermaster) and Skipper (Scoutmaster, Adult Leader). If a Ship is large enough (Most Ships are either small (half-dozen) or large (40)) then the Ship will split into any number of Crews (Patrols).

From wikipedia: