LUMBERTON — The Sea Scout Ship Lumbee served young men and later young women throughout the Lumberton community for 42 years.

A reunion of former members has been scheduled for 5 p.m. April 21 at Adelios Restaurant in Lumberton. All alumni are welcome.

The Sea Scout Ship was started 90 years ago on Jan. of 1933, sponsored by the American Legion Post #42 of Lumberton. The unit leader or “skipper” the first year was C.C. Blake with C.D. Brothers as an assistant leader or “mate.” The charter members of the ship were: Carl Barnes, Crump Blake, Jennings Floyd, Hugh Lytton, Torrey McLean, Otis Minton, S.L. Parker Jr., Robert Parnell, Raeford Ratley and L.B. Townsend Jr.

By 1935, Brothers had taken over leadership of the ship and the unit was already reporting more than 400 hours of civic service and 372 hours of cruise time, including their annual paddle trek from Lumberton to Georgetown, South Carolina. This special trip would be remembered by generations of Lumberton Scouts as a highlight of the year.

Dr. Colin Osborne, a member of the ship in the early 60s, remembers his cruise down the Lumber River with great fondness.

“Spills were not uncommon on longer trips in unfamiliar waters. Occasional dousings were to be expected, especially with our frequent water fights,” Osborne shared. “Great sheets of water could be raised with wooden paddles to thoroughly soak another boat. Then followed a race to overtake the precipitators or to flee the pursuers.”

Much like a Boy Scout Troop, Sea Scouts have an advancement system. The ranks are Apprentice, Ordinary, Able and Finally, the Eagle Scout equivalent, the Quartermaster Award. The first Scout to attain that high distinction in Ship 28, later 328 of Lumberton was Crump Blake in 1936. Others to earn that high honor were Ernest Blake, Hutaff Blake, Everett Henry, Julius Scott, Billy Doares, Victor Kirkman, G.B. McLeod, Billy McDuffie, Carl Britt, Billy Crofton, Sammy Strain, Franklin Clark, Eli Wishart, Jr., Joe Doares and Tommy Poole.

In order to be a Sea Scout, you had to be at least 15 years old. If you had previously been in a Boy Scout Troop you could continue to work towards earning your Eagle Scout award in the ship. According to a January 1963 article in The Robesonian, 136 Sea Scouts had earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the Lumberton Ship under the leadership of Skipper Brothers. J.C. Humphrey earned his Eagle Scout award from the ship in 1953.

“Skipper Brothers was a wonderful leader who drove all of us boys to achieve Eagle Scout,” recalled Humphrey with fondness.

By 1940 membership in the Ship had swelled to nearly 40 young men and the Ship was starting to garner regional and national accolades. In 1938 the Sea Scout Ship Lumbee was named Council Flagship of the Cape Fear Council. The next year the Ship was named Regional Flagship, top Sea Scout unit in all North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

In 1940 the ship scored a perfect score in Sea Scout Ship ratings and was named a member of the National Fleet and maintained that rating for nearly a decade to come, competing at the Regional Rendezvous at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.

Maj. Gen. Eli Wishart is both an Eagle Scout and Quartermaster recipient from Ship #328. He attended the Regional Explorer Rendezvous in Jacksonville, Florida in 1955.

“Being a member of the Sea Scouts was an honor. You couldn’t just choose to join, you had to be invited,” Wishart. recalled.

The Lumberton Sea Scouts would remain one of the strongest Senior Scouting units in the Cape Fear Council and certainly the longest-tenured and most successful Sea Scout unit the council has ever had. The Ship remained a powerhouse throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

By the early 1970s membership had begun to wane. The ship held on until 1975 when after more than four decades it ceased to re-charter. Skipper Brothers remained an active member of the Ship until his passing in 1974. His contributions to the development of generations of Lumberton’s youth are still remembered with fondness today.

The Cape Fear Council is seeking any scout memorabilia related to the Sship, in particular, uniforms, badges, photographs and paperwork to display in the council’s museum.

The council has a handful of photographs and a few ship logs, which is a record of all the ship’s activities ina a given year at the museum.

“We want to know what happened to the boats, the ship’s flag, and the rest of their materials,” said Robert Walton, a council historian. “We are appealing to the community for any Scouting material, Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Air Scout and especially Sea Scout.”

“We want to preserve the tremendous legacy of this storied Sea Scout unit and perhaps inspire others to start similar programs across our council territory,” said Jonathan Widmark, Scout Executive of the Cape Fear Council.