The Seamen’s Church Institute’sAnniversary Archive Project

175 Years of Serving the Maritime Community

The Navigational School

The Navigational School at the Seamen’s Church Institute had humble and informal beginnings in 1899. In December of that year, Navy Commander W. H. Reeder wrote to J. Augustus Johnson, who was serving as Chairman of SCI’s Committee on Navigation. The letter contained a list of materials that would be needed for a teaching ship at SCI. The list included grummets, 100 pounds of hemp rope for knotting, 25 pounds of hambroline, and stopping blocks.

In 1906, the still informal Navigational School met in one room, probably at the Institute’s headquarters at 1 State Street. In 1914, the School partnered with the ailing New York Nautical College and YMCA. The New York Nautical College and the YMCA were looking for a downtown location to open a school, as it was hard to lure seamen uptown to attend classes.

By 1916, the partnership between the YMCA and SCI was dissolved. The Navigational School reorganized and opened as the Navigational and Marine Engineering School of the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York.

After reorganization, the school was run by Captain Robert Huntington (pictured on right). A retired sea captain, Huntington previously ran a navigational school in Boston for 12 years but left to teach at SCI. As the United States was on the brink of entering World War I, there was a very high demand for seamen. Huntington advertised the school heavily. SCI trained 15,000 men for World War I.

SCI founded the school not only to educate those who wished to go to sea but also to give them opportunity for advancement. Seamen often had to spend years as apprentices before being able to sit for exams to qualify for promotion. After completing the courses at SCI, the men were able to sit for entrance exams to the United States Naval Academy, and, indeed, many gained admission. Instructors at the Navigation School were teaching practical subjects on a real vessel.

In 1915, Louis Gordon Hamersley donated to SCI a vessel named the J. Hooker Hamersley in memory of his father. The ship was originally used to tender crew to and from ships during wartime, making tri-weekly trips to the lower Bay. In its new teaching role, the ship gave each man individual instruction on the use of equipment, including a standard compass, tell-tale compass, sounding machine, hand leads, patent log, chip log, international code flags, and charts.

Ashore, SCI taught classes in gunnery, signaling, and ordnance. Later, the courses expanded to include latitude by various measurements, calculations, ship’s positioning, use of charts, sextant adjustment, first aid, and course and distance.

Courses were taught on the roof of 25 South Street, where a mock ship’s bridge was created. At 212 feet above street level, it was advertised as the highest navigation bridge in the world.

During World War II, more than 25,000 mariners were trained at SCI for war efforts. By this time, the Navigational School had changed its name once again to the Merchant Marine School. In 1942, 300 high school boys were enrolled as aeronautical cadets and got their first taste of navigation. After World War II, the shipping industry began swift changes. SCI and the Merchant Marine School were right there to change with it.

Just as technology on ships changed, the technology on which the students were taught changed, too. In 1968, SCI moved into their new headquarters at 15 State Street.

In the 1970s and 80s, changes in licensing, shipping, and certification requirements hastened SCI to change their programs as well. In the fall of 1985, the first radar training conference was held. This conference led to international standards of simulator training. SCI began turning classrooms into ship’s bridges again, but this time inside the building. The training academy became known as the Center for Maritime Education (CME), which it is still called to this day.

Today, state-of-the-art simulators found at SCI locations in Paducah, KY and Houston, TX train thousands of mariners annually, using many scenarios from real life on the seas and inland waterways. While the simulators can never replace actual experience, they give students the practical advice and training to be able to successfullynavigate whatever circumstances may arise.

The Seamen’s Church Institute

Founded in 1834 and affiliated with the Episcopal Church (though non-denominational in terms of its trustees, staff and service to mariners), the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York & New Jersey (SCI) is the largest, most comprehensive mariners’ agency in North America. Annually, its chaplains visit 3,400 vessels in the Port of New York and New Jersey and along 2,200 miles of America’s inland waterways. SCI’s maritime education facilities provide navigational training to nearly 1,600 mariners each year through simulator-based facilities located in Houston, TX and Paducah, KY. The Institute and its maritime attorneys are recognized as leading advocates for merchant mariners by the United States Government, including the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization, the International Labor Organization and maritime trade associations.

Visit us on the Web at www.seamenschurch.org.

The Seamen’s Church InstituteAbout the Anniversary Archive ProjectFrom April Hegner, SCI Archivist

Greetings from the virtual, online museum of the Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI)—175 years old in the year 2009. My name is April Hegner, SCI’s archivist during its Anniversary celebration. This year I have the distinct privilege of working in and among the rich and fascinating annals of history at SCI, North America’s largest maritime service organization. I am pleased to share with you some of my findings in several short slideshow presentations as part of the Anniversary Archive Project.

Throughout the year, I will be adding more. You can view them as they are compiled at SCI’s website at www.seamenschurch.org. I hope that you enjoy leafing through these pages of the organization’s history. If you have any questions about this project or any particular item displayed here, you may contact me at ahegner@seamenschurch.org.