Nautical schools and the development of United States maritime professionals, 1874--1941 (New York City, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts)

This dissertation examines the use of maritime education to create maritime professionals during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It compares and contrasts the three original state nautical schools to illustrate the theory and practice of maritime education as conceived by the United States Navy. Dismayed by the large number of disasters at sea, the influx of foreign-born sailors and the decline of the American-flag merchant fleet in the 1860s and 1870s, naval officer Stephen B. Luce led the campaign to establish nautical schools in major port cities for the training of merchant marine officers. In 1874, the New York Nautical School was created in New York City, followed by the Pennsylvania Nautical School in Philadelphia in 1889, and the Massachusetts Nautical Training School in Boston in 1891. The Navy maintained its close association with the state nautical schools by assigning officers, instructional equipment, and vessels.; Despite the technological revolution in steam propulsion, the state nautical schools originally adopted a sail curriculum focused on navigation and practical seamanship. In the 1890s, a growing commitment to technical expertise led to the addition of engineering courses, but the traditional maritime curriculum maintained a strong hold on the schools until World War II. In the 1930s, advocates of maritime education began to call for a national academy to take over the responsibilities from state schoolships. In 1938 the federal government created the United States Merchant Marine Cadet Corps and then the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1941. With the outbreak of World War II, a dual system of state and federal schools emerged to train sailors for the enlarged merchant fleet necessary to meet the logistical needs of a global conflict.; Ultimately, the nautical schools failed to halt the decline of the United States merchant marine in the twentieth century. They did succeed in creating a small, but significant body of maritime professionals who contributed to the overall maritime and naval life of the United States. They formed alumni associations, published journals, lobbied Congress for maritime legislation and appropriations, and served with distinction at sea and ashore in American shipping companies.