Meetings & Programs
William H. Sills (whs@idcnet.com)
Wed Jan 21 22:16:22 1998
Mark and Jim have commented upon meetings of Senior Scouts, ie. Rovers,
Venturers, Explorers and Sea Scouts. There was some concern that all US members
of the Exploring Division don't get together for meetings. That can be explained
by realizing that all US Senior Scouts are not the same. Explorers in posts and
Sea Scouts in Ships have quite disparate programs toward the same ends.
Sea Scouts (Sea Explorers) have retained their traditional rank system
beyond the Eagle Scout Award. The traditional advancement course leads
successively (through the optional Boy Scout Cabin Boy) through Apprentice Sea
Scout, Ordinary Sea Scout, Able Sea Scout and, up at the pinnacle, the
Quartermaster Award. We also have a second track which has two ranks: Small Boat
Handler and Qualified Seaman. Most Sea Scouts work on both advancement paths. Sea
Scouts have been "stand-alone since the beginning of Scouting. In the USA, we were
joined by Explorer Scouts, Rovers, and, later, Air Scouts. The BSA destroyed these
other programs in 1965. They also discontinued their Silver, Ranger and ACE
advancement tracks at the same time. BSA (USA) decided to have a non uniformed,
non-traditional emphasis and called it Exploring. Officially, Sea Scouts became
Sea Explorers. (90% of us never adopted that rather clumsy name.)
Sea Scout units are called "ships" and the adult leader is the
skipper. His assistants are "Mates". Each ship's company is divided into Boat
Crews. The Petty Officers (Junior Leaders) are the Boatswain, Boatswain's Mate,
Yeoman, Purser and Storekeeper. The petty officers and commissioned officers form
the ship's Quarterdeck. Each crew is headed by a coxswain and assistant similar to
the Den and Patrol structure. (Explorer Posts lost their crews and crew leaders in
1965.) We also have a volunteer organizational structure at all levels which has,
at its head, the Commodore of the Sea Scout Fleet (National Committee Chairman)
and the National Fleet Committee Members. They are assisted by the National
Director of Sea Exploring, a professional, at the national headquarters in Irving,
Texas. There is usually a Fleet Chief Boatswain, elected from the Flotilla
(Regional) Chief Boatswains, who serves a youth representative to the National
Committee..
Because Sea Scouts are very traditional and usually extremely active,
they often have little incentive to attend indoor meetings which seem to be so
important to the "Career Awareness" Explorers. Sea Scouts are not :stand offish"
rather they have such full calendars and demanding activities that taking time for
meetings is not an option. For example, Sea Scouts repair their sail, power and
ice boats, ready them for launch, launch them, cruise on them, maintain them, and
later haul them out and store them. There is a lot of training involved in
becoming a competent operator, seamanship, piloting, celestial navigation, knots,
splicing, rigging, etc. Further, we have , Regattas, Rendezvous, Nautoramas, and
Squadron (Council) Quarterdeck (Skippers & Bosns Assn). We also have or own,
specialized training including SEAL, Nautical Leadership Academy, Nautical Skills
Weekends, Safety of Life At Sea and US Sailing certification courses for youth.
Adults have Sea Explorer Leader Specialized Training and SeaBadge. We also go on
an annual "Long Cruise". Just enumerating the foregoing fills a calendar. <VBG>
The fact that Sea Scout Ships and Explorer Posts are In "different
worlds" would be a problem if the USA was a small country with a limited
population. However, since it is so large, there is plenty of room for all kinds
of activities in Senior Scouting (Exploring). Our council has an Explorer Officers
Association which our Squadron Chief Boatswain and I (commodore) attend. This
allows the squadron to know what the Explorer Posts are doing and vice versa.
Further, many Sea Scout ships help Explorers, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts enjoy
nautical activities. The kids in my squadron help with sailing, motorboating,
rowing, swimming, weather, etc. merit badges. They take other scouts for cruises
and help with unit and council fund raising events.
The advantage we have is that we do not have the disparate range of> interests
that you have in the US, but it is important that the Units do > talk to each
other and seeing what the other people are doing at different
>
>
>
>
> I wasn;t aware that your venturer's work toward awards/ranks -- the
> Queen's Scout, and the like -- we have only one minor award right
> now, the GOLD Award (creates lots of confusion because it's also a
> Girl Scout USA award.) National is introducing some new awards this
> year (supposidly this year -- but the rest of the BSA members on the
> list all know how that goes.) What are the requirements on your
> different awards?
>
> We aren't quite to the point of bigotry yet for the most part--though
> there is some animosity between some Sea Explorers and the rest of us
> -- though our most active unit in the district is a Sea Explorer ship
> -- I guess it just depends on where you are.
Being so traditional, uniformed, nautical activity, seamanship skill and
advancement oriented, the Sea Scout program appeals to different kids. Ships have
by far the longest average tenure in the BSA and Sea Scouts general stay in their
ship from 14 through 21. many go on as Leaders.
Personally, I'd like to see a lot more friendship and fellowship between all of
our different
> Posts -- I know we can all learn a lot from each other.
One of the causes of friction is the failure by Explorers to use our terminology.
Young men and women, proud to be Sea Scouts, are not going to be happy being
called Explorers and having their ships referred to as posts. The youth leaders
are and like to be called Boatswain but are often referred to as Post President.
It as if the 2nd oldest program in all of Scouting doesn't exist. This tends to
"put the off" and many simply "vote with their feet" and never again attend a
council wide Exploring activity.
Sea Scouting has its own publications "Sea Exploring Manual", Skippers Handbook,
Coxswains Handbook, etc., its own literature and web sites all of which may be
reached from our National Web Page at http://www.sea. scouter.com
We are all on the same side and have common goals but we reach them from very
dissimilar directions.
Yours In Sea Scouting;
Bill Sills
>
>
> YIS,
>
> James A. Wells
> President, Explorer Post 1824
> Sam Houston Area Council
> http://www.shac.org
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