Figure 1.--.

The Netherlands has a strong sea faring tradition. From the early years of Scouting, Sea Scouting has been a popular option. Sea Scouting continures today to be popular in the Netherlands.

Levels

Dutch Sea Scouts have four groups or levels.

The Cubs

The Cubs are age 7 to 11. They work along Rudyard Kipling's Junglebook. The leaders have names of animals in the Junglebook (Akela, Baloo), most of the time is spent on playing in the woods and doing small indoor activities. Only a few times a year do the cubs come to our 'Naval base' to row or sail -under close supervision of course.

The Venturers

The Venturers are age 12 to 14. Playing still is the main thing to do when you're a venturer, but while playing a lot of typical scouting techniques are learned: knots, hiking, navigating and perhaps most important: handling an commanding a rowboat.

The Scouts

The Scouts or Juniors, as they are called them are age 14 to 16. Sailing and other water activities take up most of their Sunday afternoons. Teamwork, responsibility and 'green' thinking are the key words here.

The Seniors

The age are 16 to 18. Sailing at sea or in the Schelde-delta in the Netherlands and other adventurous activities is what they do here. The Seniors are often responsible for their own activities, which sometimes leads to the most zany and creative games you've ever seen.

The Leaders

The Seniors are 18 on. About 15 enthusiastic leaders lead this bunch of kids, together with our master--the big chief.

Activities

A typical Sunday afternoon starts with a formation where every patrol (a patrol is a group of 6 to 8 scouts and guides of the same age) shouts its patrol slogan, e.g. Sea devils strike or Herons rise! The we greet the flag, every group has its own flag; don't see this as some kind of military protocol, but think of it as the official start of our afternoon. In the winter we don't use the boats anymore, instead we gather at other locations in Oostende to do activities other non-sea scouts normally do. This gives us the opportunity to check all canoes, rowboats and sailboats; to paint them and to repair when necessary.

Units

A representative Dutch Sea Scout unit is the 2nd FOS Sea Scouts in Westhinder. They meet every Sunday afternoon in the town of Oostende, at the coast of Belgium. One Dutch Sea Scout describes his group: "Our scout group is named 'Westhinder' after the lightship Westhinder, which served as a floating beacon at the coastline of Oostende. Our group is a member of FOS, a pluralistic organisation of scouts; this basically means everyone is welcome in their group, no matter what gender, race, colour or religion. What do they do? Every Sunday afternoon at two they gather and do all kinds of scouting and youth activities, of course all things they do are adapted to the age of the kids involved.

Camp

Our camps Every summer we go out for a 10-day camp, the youngest spend their camps in the Ardennes (the south side of Belgium, which is hillier and has more forests) or in the Netherlands. (Americans will recognize the Ardennes as the site of the World War II Battle of the Buldge.) The oldest two groups always leave for the Netherlands to do a sailing trip of several days; sailing from village to village on the waters of Zeeland. In the winter we also leave for a small 4-day camp, and during the year we often spend a weekend together.

Uniforms

Traditional Uniform

The Sea Scouts of course had a different uniform, presumably based on Dutch naval uniforms. The caps were white flat toped naval caps. I'm not sure what color sarfe they wre or if it varied by unit. The had dark blue shorts and short pants. The pants were corduroy like the regular Scouts only in blue. Their kneesocks were also dark blue. For sailing they wore tennis shoes. For dress occasions and parades, leather shoes.

Current Uniform

I'm not sure if there is still a standard Sea Scout cap. If so it is only worn for dress occassions. One group weas a blue and white scarfe. There is still a blue shirt, but boys generally wear what ever pants they want. Shorts are commonm, but not uniform shorts. Kneesocks are also not commonly worn. I'm not sure what the Sea Scouts noe wear in parades and other dress occasions.