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June, 1918 out to the board that there were many thousand fishermen on our coasts-- there being not less than 100,000 on the Atlantic and Gulf seaboards alone --among whom could be found excel- lent material for merchant officers and _-- sailors. Furthermore, former sailors were to be found in almost all the states, engaged in various occupations. Among them were former captains and mates of sailing vessels and not a few former officers of merchant steamers. There were also many marine engineers working ashore, and other engineers who could be prepared in a short course of THE MARINE REVIEW lished on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts and the Great Lakes. The response of men qualified to enter the schools was quick and grati- fying as to numbers and, notwith- standing that no man was accepted as a student who had not served two years on a _ deep-water vessel, the percentage of men who qualified for admission, out of the total num- ber of applicants called for prelimi- nary examination, was large. of the applicants, actuated by patriot- 'ism, expressed a willingness to leave lucrative positions ashore in order to Many. 239 standard set by' the regulations of the department of commerce as to the experience required of a candidate for a merchant officer's license. Each section was placed in charge of an official designated as section chief, in whose hands were placed all details as to the administration of the schools in that section. The - board was fortunate in securing as section chiefs men of professional or special training for service at sea. By establishing free schools in navigation at im- portant ports, and free classes in marine engineering at some of the leading technical colleges, I pro- posed. to train enough men of the types- indi- cated to meet the forthcoming = if- creased demand for American deck and engine room officers for the new' American cargo, ships: 1 proposed reaching the men needed by. statements in the press of the opportunities thus offered them for patriotic service and a chance for advancement -- in positions that would be as : numerous after peace returned as during the war. . On May 29, 1917, I was authorized by the shipping board to inaugurate the training plan, and on June 1 was Sworn in as director of recruiting service for the board. Three days later the first free navigation school to be conducted under the direction of the United States shipping board was opened, with 20 students, at the student's astronomical laboratory, Harvard university, kindly loaned for the purpose by the college faculty. Later this school was transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology, where it has since been main- tained. The work of organizing additional Schools went on through succeeding months, until 41 in all were estab- FINDING CREWS FOR NEW AMERICAN SHIPS IS A REAL JOB--ILLUSTRATION SHOWS A DELAWARE RIVER LAUNCHING fit themselves for service in the mer- chant marine in war. time. Others frankly hailed with delight an oppor- tunity to get back to the sea, which they had left because of unpromising conditions in the decade preceding the opening of the great war. National headquarters of the new training service were established at Boston, where a floor in the Boston custom house was set apart for its use by the treasury department. For administrative purposes in establish- ing and maintaining the schools the country was divided into sections, following closely the geographical divisions employed by the United States steamboat inspection service, which. from the _ first co-operated heartily with the recruiting service of the shipping board in maintaining the business training, whose patriotism led them to donate their time to this service, their compensation being merely nominal--in most instances $5 a. month. tm portant positions at national head- quarters also were filled by volun- teers with special capacity for ad- ministrative work. The section chiefs of the service are as follows: Sec- tion J, ° Horatio Hathaway: Jr, 12th "floor, < Cus- tom House, Bos- ton; Section If John F. Lewis, 108 South Fourth street, Philadel- phia; Section III, Hardy Groom, 130 Riverside ave- nue, Jacksonville, Fla.; Section IV, Ernest Lee Jahn- cke, 814 Howard avenue, New Or- leans; Section V, Farnham P. Grif- fiths, 465 Califor- nia street, San Francisco; Sec- tion VI, William J. Grambs, 860 Stuart building, Seattle; Section VII, Capt. Irving L. Evans, 933 Guardian building, Cleve- land. Direction of instruction in the navi- gation schools was placed in the hands of Prof. Alfred E. Burton, dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who formerly was connected with the coast and geodetic survey, and who is a practical navi- gator of wide scientific knowledge. Professor Burton. selected his in- structors from among men of prac- tical training, astronomers, explorers and former sea captains being among them, with recognized standing as teachers. The system of instruction perfected for the schools was in accordance with the most approved methods of teaching navigation. It was there-