Figure 1.--Here we see an early photograph of Sea Scouts and their chaplain from Newquay in Cornwall. Being a costal resort, of course the boys would have had a lot of access to the sea. I would guess the date is about 1920. The photographer was H G Oakley of Victoria Parade, Newquay. Image courtesy of the PH collection.

The Boy Scout Sea Scouting program, like Scouting itself, was conceived in England. English Sea Scouting apparently began at a Boy Scout camp fire. Among other topics, Lord Baden-Powell suggested that older Scouts might wanst to learn about handling boats and seamanship. Baden-Powell's army career is often sited as a primary source od Scouting, but Baden-Powell's boyhood love of the outdoos was another factor. And he also loved boating qnd would camp with his brothers on islands they they reached with boats. Baden-Powell concluded early on that boys should also learn naval skills. Britain of course reled heavily on both the Royal Navy and the merchant marine. There already exised great interest among British boys in the sea. (The British Army had to put some effort into recruiting. The Royal Navy without any recruiting effort had been more boys attempting to enlist than they needed.) The first English Boy Scouts actually persued some marine activities. The English Sea Scout organization was formally charered as a separate program in 1910.