merchant fleet grew smaller. Subsection 216(b) cre- 
ated the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings 
Point, N.Y. 
216(c) authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to 
establish extension and correspondence courses to 
supplement the training of both maritime officers and 
seamen. Today, under this authority, the Maritime 
Administration has established five regional training 
centers at which short courses are offered on the use 
of radar, loran, and gyrocompass. These centers are 
located in New York City, New Orleans, San Fran- 
cisco, Seattle, and Toledo. A fee is charged for most 
courses. In addition, firefighting training is offered 
free of charge on a not-to-interfere basis at the 
Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) firefighting 
school at Earle, N.J. and at the Navy Training Cen- 
ter, Treasure Island, Calif.*° 
According to MarAd officials, the agency funds 
such extension courses only where a critical safety 
need exists and it is impractical or too expensive for 
the industry to fund them. 
In addition to operating Kings Point, MarAd also 
provides financial assistance to the six State maritime 
academies in California, Maine, Massachusetts, 
Michigan, New York, and Texas. The authority for 
this Federal aid is the Maritime Academy Act of 
1958 (46 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.). Under this Act, pay- 
ments of $1,200 ($600 before FY 1978) per year 
per student are provided to defray the cost of uni- 
forms, books, and subsistence. Since fiscal year 1974, 
MarAd has limited the Federal payments to 673 
students per entering class, in an effort to keep down 
the number of students at the State academies. Also, 
payments of $100,000 per year are authorized for 
each State academy, though the actual fiscal year 
1978 appropriation was $75,000 per school, and 
federally-owned training vessels are provided to the 
five “salt-water” schools.*” 
A major concept behind these policies is the con- 
nection between transportation and national security 
—the premise that U.S.-flag vessels are needed in 
time of emergency—plus the attitude that private 
sources alone cannot guarantee a sufficient number 
of maritime officers. There is also the long, tradi- 
tional view that Government support of commercial 
maritime operations is warranted. (See chapter V, 
Marine Transportation.) A related principle is that 
maritime academy students should be familiar with 
Navy procedures. It is reflected in the naval sci- 
ence courses taken by subsidized students at Kings 
Point and all the State academies except Michigan. 
However, one criticism of the present arrangements 
is that many maritime officers—particularly the 80 
percent who are not academy graduates—have not 
been given detailed training in such Navy procedures 
as convoy tactics. *4 
At the same time, Federal policy also is influenced 
by the idea that while the Government should license 
officers, the commercial merchant marine operates 
best with a minimum of Government involvement in 
day-to-day operations. For instance, there is no 
legally enforceable requirement that maritime acad- 
emy graduates serve some minimum amount of time 
at sea, because the Federal Government cannot re- 
quire private shipping companies to hire them. How- 
ever, Kings Point students are required to sign a 
paper making a “moral commitment” to seek seafar- 
ing employment upon graduation. 
Sources and Employment of Merchant Marine Officers 
There are four major sources of new merchant 
marine officers: (1) U.S. Merchant Marine Acad- 
emy, (2) the six State maritime academies, (3) the 
Calhoon MEBA Engineering School,*? and (4) the 
“hawsepipe.” * 
Table 8-4 shows the enrollment and appropriated 
Federal funds for each of these sources, except for 
the “hawsepipe.” 
Tables 8-5 and 8-6 contain MarAd’s estimates of 
present and future demand for deck and engineering 
officers graduating from the Nation’s maritime acad- 
emies. The main conclusion is that while there is a 
surplus of new graduates now, there may be short- 
ages of deck and engine graduates in the near future, 
if the assumptions in MarAd’s “best estimate” (most 
* U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Merchant Marine and 
Fisheries. Report of the Ad Hoc Select Committee on Maritime 
Education and Training of the Committee on Merchant Marine 
and Fisheries on Fiscal Year 1978 Budget Requests for Maritime 
Education and Training, 95th Congress, Ist session, March 21, 
1977, p. 3. 
likely) scenario are valid. Another key point re- 
flected here is that academy graduates are hired not 
only for deep sea shipping but also for work on the 
Great Lakes, in the Government, in offshore mineral 
and oil exploration (“M&O”), and for inland ship 
and barge operations. 
One significant feature of the U-S. merchant _ma- 
rine is the strong role of the maritime unions. The 
principal ones for maritime officers are the Interna- 
49 U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Merchant Marine and 
Fisheries, op. cit. pp. 2-3. 
41 U.S. Congress, General Accounting Office. The Federal Role 
in Merchant Marine Officer Training. .Report FPCD—77-44, 
June 15, 1977, pp. 13-17. 
42 The Calhoon School in Baltimore trains maritime engineering 
officers. It is operated by the engineers’ union, the Marine Engi- 
neers Beneficial Association, District 1. The school is named for 
the union's president, Jesse Calhoon. 
“ Hawsepipe is a nautical term used by the maritime industry 
to refer to unlicensed seamen who, through self-study and on-the- 
job training, work their way up through the ranks, meet the 
Coast Guard's licensing criteria, and receive their initial deck 
or engineering officer’s license. : 
VIII-16 
