Republican farmer., 1919-07-18
"CURLEW" W"STARTS ON INITIAL TRIP
 AS SEA SCOUT Training Ship Due to Make
 Stop Here. NEW BRANCH OF
 BOY SCOUTS OPEN Expected to Develop Love
 of Sea in Many.

Bridgeport will soon be treated to tined to make history for the boyhood of the nation. For the celebrated 'Curlew'' the big Sea Scout Training g Ship which left the Hudson River at Bear Mountain New York State Monday, Is soon due to lay in for a day at one of the local piers in Con- necticut.
 The cruise of the "Curlew" is be- ing followed eagerly by thousands of scouts throughout the country. It is inc most elaborate of it's kind yet undertaken by the sea scout branch of the Boy Scouts of America, and is he fore runner to hundreds of similar expeditions which will be conducted on the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf. Missis- sippi, Susquehanna. Ohio, and other waterways of the nation.
 Under the command of Chief Sea Scout James A. Wilder of Honolulu, and National Portmaster Herbert G. Horton. the Curlew, towing a flotilla of smaller craft. and manned by a picked bunch of first class scouts from Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, sa-,r,- away from her moorings at 5eG= Mountain, proceeded up the Hudson, through Spuyten Deyvil Creek. along the North shore in Long Island Sound and thence into the Connecticut.
 True scouts that they are, the crew will cast anchor every pleasant eVen- ing. row to shore and bivouac under the open skies, returning to their ship in the morning and proceeding on rno journey until the next night.
 But their expedition isn't all pleas ure by any means. In the first place, |, I1;r the success of which will mean the immediate expansion of sea-scouting on large scale all over the coun- try. For Chief Sea Scout Wilder has just developed a standardized form of sea-training which, according to practical mariners everywhere, ana high officials in the Navy, is the best method of inculcating a love for the sea in boys yet devised.
 And the scouts on the Curlew are no Iandlubbers either. For the past two weeks they have been rraInrns on their land ship, the "Sea-Gul1'' a beautiful island on Lake Kanowahke, transformed ina> a near-vessel with a mainmast, spars, decks, bow stern and everything. For a fortnight, the boys have been grappling with the myster- ies of rigging, have learned the eS- sentials of boxing a compass and have been taught to do other things which they are now putting into practice
 And furthermore, they are making a note of landmarks along the Con necticut and sounding here carefully for the Government has entrusted the boys with the important task of furnishing the basis of a report which will be circulated among navI- gators everywhere.
 This cruise will be followed by a number of others in August and Sep tember," explained the Chief Sea Scout, who also added that applica- tions for the next expedition are lit orally swamping sea-scout headquar- ters at POO Fifth Avenue, New York But it is not too late,' he explained. and any local scouts of the first class grade who are over 5 years of age, will be given an opportunity to ship with the next crew if he writes the office immediately.
 So watch out for the Curlew.