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Training Merchant Marine Officers Must Be Part of Program If It We Are to Re- establish Our Position on the Seas AR flung among the hidden cor- ners of the world the industrious tramp conducts our nation’s trade. The stately procession of crack express liners across’ well traveled lanes carries our world tour- ists. And, within the boundaries of the country, the Great Lakes steam- ers and river boats further growing interests and industries. Beyond lim- itless horizons our daring forefathers set out afloat to conquer unknown lands; battled for them, and main- tained their independence against ex- perienced sea fighters. They fostered the development of our western shores by fast elipper ships, and es- tablished trade routes for our export commerce. Our heritage, no less, is the sea! This great manufacturing nation, the growth of internal development maturing, required raw materials from abroad; demanded new markets The author is a lieutenant in the United States navy and served as a cadet on the schoolship Newport before entering the Naval Academy. By C. A. Griffiths there. With the World war came the realization that our merchant fleet had all but vanished from the seas. Our goods were shipped in foreign bottoms; our money flowed to foreign commerce. Building Vessels in a Hurry We built a mighty war-time cargo fieet, but in the economic depression immediately following the war, no cargoes for them could be found. Ships were laid up; crews paid off. Ten years later, foreign outlets for unconsumed domestic products re- vived the country’s interest in our merchant ships and now is bringing -a once bleak future into a pleasanter prospect. Necessity forced foreign markets for disposing of our excess products, from wheat to steel, produced, not only in the coastal states, but far into the interior as well. Commercial rivalry introduced the element of time into our merchant’ shipping. No longer is the laborious transoceanic trip by sailing ship an economic pos- sibility. Speed in transit is the dom- inating factor, and with the demand for increased speed, more complicated machinery, larger ships, greater power, is required. The shipping in- dustry has developed into a scientific field of operation, management and maintenance. Time is’ important. Profits are demanded. Delays in load- ing and unloading, machinery break- downs, and overhaul periods are ex- pensive. The inaction of a ship is a direct loss to its owners; a steam- ship is only earning money when on a voyage fully laden. Down the lane of history, seamen of our merchant vessels paved the way for the nation’s present prosper- ity. Records made and broken, de- sign, development of ship and coun- try, resulted from their efforts. Each seafaring man in his own peculiar way has added to the dignity of navi- gation, the art of seamanship, or the science of engineering. Recruited from the youth of the country, with the lure of the sea in their blood, our seamen of the past have added to the U.S.S. Newport, New York State Nautical academy. Loaned by the navy department MARINE REVIEw—January, 1931 27