Sea Scouting And Seamanship For Boys

Author : Alien Broad
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (253 download)

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Download or read book Boy Scouts at Sea written by Alien Broad and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-23 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Boy Scouts at Sea: An Extraordinary Story of Survival at Sea "After You, Pilot" "Say, George, won't you come down to the island this afternoon and spin us a yarn? You know we're going to Boston to-morrow to ship on board the Bright Wing, and we want to talk things over; perhaps you could give us some extra points." The speaker was Dick Gray, who had been an apprentice Sea Scout ever since the previous autumn, and was now about to take his first summer cruise on the Boy Scout ship with his two companions, Tom Sheffield and Chippie Smith. He was talking to his brother George, a midshipman just home from Annapolis for his vacation,[2] and he naturally looked up to him as an authority in nautical matters. Besides, George had recently returned from a long trans-Atlantic cruise, and he had only just heard of Dick's interest in the Sea Scouts. Much had happened since George's last visit home, and Dick was eager to tell him all about it and to win his sympathy and approval. The headquarters of the three boys was a little shack on Duck Island, which formed part of the home farm, where, for a couple of years past, they had kept their pets and hatched all the plans for their various adventures. George was a good deal older than Dick, and had recently--within the last few days--heard a story which had impressed him so deeply that his idea of all his duties as an officer had been changed and heightened. When, therefore, Dick asked him to come down to the island and to spin a yarn to the boys, this story immediately jumped into his mind and he wondered whether he could tell it in such a way as[3] to create in them the same feeling that it had aroused in him. "I wish I knew more about your Boy Scout business, Dick. Can't you tell me something about it?" he asked. "Well, now," answered Dick, "to pass for apprentice we have to know more knots than the Land Scouts do to pass for tenderfoot, and to swim twenty-five yards farther." "That isn't exactly what I'm after," replied George. "I understand that the Land Scouts learn more woodcraft and such things than the Sea Scouts, and that the Sea Scouts are supposed to be more at home in the water. What I would like to know is what the Boy Scouts are? I met some one the other day who explained to me that there were two branches of the service--corresponding to the Army and the Navy--but he did not tell me exactly what the service itself was. Now, in the Navy, it's our duty to defend the country by sea, and all our education is intended to make us efficient in seamanship and the[4] art of war. The object of the whole thing is just the same in the Navy as in the Army, except that the one fights by sea and the other by land. It's the protection and service of our country in either case, and both branches take the oath of allegiance." "That's it!" said Dick eagerly. "We have an oath, too, and it's the same oath for the Sea Scouts as it is for the Land Scouts. I guess it's the same for Boy Scouts all over the world; although, of course, they use different words and speak in different languages." George asked his brother to repeat the oath, and then he remarked: "I'm glad to know that oath, Dick. It has helped me to understand more about the whole thing." "I'll get you the manual," said Dick, "and you can look that over and see for yourself what the law is." "The law? Oh, I suppose that's a sort of Regulations. Run and get me the book and I'll come down and spin you a yarn[5] before supper time. When do you expect the other boys?" "At four o'clock."