Evening star., 1937-11-14
Sea Police
Force at
School
Academy Teaches
Recruits for
Service.

oSl V1NSe
HOW would you like to track ice
bergs and smugglers. rescue ships
and human beings from the fury Of
the sea, and visit villages and lone
fisheries isolated in the Far North?
If you'd like this sort Of life, then
you may prepare yourself at the
United States Coast Guard Academy
at New London, Conn, school which
combines the teaching Of marine en-
gineering and seamanship with al
most all the cultural advantages of
the average college, and the tactics
and discipline Of a good military
academy.
If you have never yearned to run
away to sea, but are one of large
group of boys and girls who love stories
of sea adventures, with pilates and old
time buccaneers, then you will want to
hear this modern tale of school which
is training men to lead our police of
the sea, and providing watchmen for
our coastline.
The Coast Guard Academy is located
on the Thames River. 1t lies north of
the Coast Guard destroyer fleet and
west of our naval submarine base, so
its atmosphere is saturated with tradi-
tions Of the sea. 1t is the only school
of its kind in the world, and has been
in existence since 1876, when a two
year course was established aboard
the topsail schooner Dobbin of New
Bedford, Mass. Before that year, bar
kentines and barks, schooners and
steel cutters, had served as the train
ing ships for boys who were later to
become officers in the Coast Guard.
In 1910 old Fort Trumbull, over
looking the mouth of the Thames and
New London Harbor, served as the
land home of the academy. Today
the school covers 40 acres and offers
course of training which can be
compared with those given at West
Point and Annapolis.
The requirements for admission to
the Coast Guard Academy are fully
as rigid as those for admission to the
United States Military and Naval
Academies. You must be between the
ages of 18 and % years and citizen
of the United States. You will have
to pass very strict physical examina-
ton, so you must be constitutionally
strong. Graduation from high school
and at least one year of college are
required. Your character must be
excellent, revealing qualities which
would make you a good officer. And
if you find you can come up to all
these requirements, then you must
pass an examination in history, math-
ematics and English.
These examinations are held during
the middle of June in most of the
large cities of the United States. If
you pass them and are appointed, your
transportation is paid from your home
to New London. In 1888, however,
only 81 out Of 300 applicants passed
While you are attending the academy
you will be paid $3.50 year, which is
enough to provide for uniforms and
sustenance and little spending
money.
The teachers at the academy are
regular officers of the service. They
will teach you to dissect engines and
overhaul boats, to shoot" the stars
and discuss international law. You
will continue to study mathematics,
and in addition, you will take part
in drills and gun practice. Also you
will have nine months of seamanship
on the ocean, and more shop and
laboratory work On land.
Many of the engineering building
rooms are unique. In these you will
be taught to run lathes and milling
machines, Diesel engines and turbines
thermometers and electric motors
One room of the academy you will
find fitted to, duplicate exactly the
boiler room of a regulation Coast
Guard cutter. Here you will learn
the technique of firing and boiler
regulation. But these are all special
courses and training which the school
offers. In the regular classrooms you
will study the same courses as those
of the average college.
From September to June. as a
Coast Guard cadet. you will study
these things which have already been
mentioned But from June until
August you will have the chance to
put this knowledge into hard practice
on the sea. There are three annual
practice cruises. On these you will
learn to swab decks and to navigate,
to handle guns, fire the boilers, ano
to command the cutter on which you
are sailing. Often boats will be low
cred and you will be given the op-
portunity for rowing practice on rough
seas. And before you graduate you
will be expected to carry out all the
responsibilities of navigating officer
and officer of the deck.
When you have completed the course
of training you will be good seaman
marine engineer and a responsible
officer, capable of carrying on the
countless tasks assigned to the Coast
Guard.
At graduation you are commissioned
by the President of the United States
as an ensign of the United States
Coast Guard. This rank is equal
in pay and status to that of similar
rank in the United States Navy. You
will be paid $1,500 as your base pay
with several hundred dollars more
for allowances.
You will find yourself in a service
which is lat years old, whose history
is characterized by heroism and daring
Alexander Hamilton and George Wash
ington were once its sponsors. AT
the end of the eighteenth century the
merchantmen of the United States
were attacked constantly by privateers
of France and England. So in 1890 an
act of Congress brought the Coast
Guard into being to suppress these
pirates and smugglers.
Today you will find its duties have
been greatly expanded. The Coast
Guard goes to the rescue of lives and