Getting conflicting reports here was it SUNY or Maine?
Depends on what is meant by âgraduate.â Marjorie Murtaugh graduated from SUNY in 1974, but I donât think she was licensed until 1978.
Sounds like the âoldest maritime academyâ vs. âoldest continuously operating academyâ stuff between Mass. and SUNY (SUNY is older, but shut down briefly as they transitioned from a training ship to an ashore campus).
If I am not mistaken, SUNY Maritime began as training ground for delinquent boys in late 19th century?
Possibly the opposite. At the time, the Navy had âreformatory scholarshipsâ to recruit merchant mariners. The predecessor of SUNY Maritime (New York Nautical School) was intended to âestablish a nautical school that would train a better class of boysâŚâ Williams, Joseph A. (2013) Four Years Before the Mast A History of New Yorkâs Maritime College p. 14.
This notwithstanding, consider that this was at a time when âshape up or ship outâ was not just an idle threat by parents to children who wonât clean up their room. So a better class of trainees is probably relative.
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Such a great book. Well researched and written. Iâve read it several times.
Still is.
I believe SUNY was the first to start admitting women. Similarly, the first to start admitting people of color for consideration as shipâs officers. Iâll have to dig around to find the source but, I know Iâve read that somewhere.
As for the âOldestâ they do stretch it all the way back to their 1874 founding as a NYC training ship for boys, from I believe the NYC DOE and the Marine Society of NY, the St. Mary which was donated for the purpose post-civil war. From there it has gone through probably 3 or 4 name changes, the founding of the SUNY System, and the WWII founding of the USMMA, which, from a certain perspective, was actually created by NYM.
funny! But no, I worked on TSES a few times, most kids there are quite decent.
1874!
Damn phone typing!
My favorite of which (and which soldiers on in the form of an official seal of the school, still hanging to this day above an entrance to the fort) was the New York State Merchant Marine Academy.
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I never noticed that during my tenure there. Maybe it was in storage. Or maybe I was too busy snorting derisively at the âSallyport Sayingâ to notice itâŚ
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Okon mentioned this as well care to elaborate
The first woman to graduate from a maritime academy was Deborah Doane Dempsey. She graduated in May, 1976. She entered MMA in the winter semester, 1974 with a BA or BS degree.
The first state maritime academy to admit women was the California Maritime Academy, in the fall of 1973. At the time Cal Maritime was on the quarter system, and was a three year program at the time so it graduated it first group of women in June, 1976.
you must obey!
So Capt James Harvey Tomb, himself an Annapolis Grad, was Superintendent of NYSMMA from 1927-â42. He and likeminded supporters pushed first for building up the state school during that time period. It was basically a continuation of that work to push for a federalized school. As far back as 1930 he was lobbying for a federal school, and when the federal Marchant Marine Cadet Corps was founded in 1939 they formed up at Fort Schuyler before the facilities at Kingâs point were completed in â42/â43. Most cadets going into WWII wouldâve only spent very little time at either campus before being sent out to the fleet, as cadets and then as fast tracked officers.
Edit: Further reading on that: THE SAGA OF FORT SCHUYLER
Captain Tomb was the first Superintendent at USMMA. I think the football field is named for him.
When you walk in and pass the Sallyport just go straight across past the flagpole. Itâs directly above that door.