Pennsylvania Nautical School & Pennsylvania Maritime Academy, 1889 - 1947

Pennsylvania Nautical School and Pennsylvania Maritime Academy, 1889 - 1947. A shipboard classroom that trained more than 2,000 young men for careers in the Merchant Marine.

Those who go down to the sea in ships, , Who do business on great waters, , They see the works of the Lord, , And his wonders in the deep. , Psalms 107:23-24

, What did they learn? , Through hard work, class members together operated every aspect of the schoolship from scrubbing the decks to plotting a course across the ocean., ■ Subjects included Seamanship, Celestial Navigation and Marine Engineering., How did they serve during wartime? , Graduates became respected seamen, many of whom served as ship's Masters and Chief Engineers. The US Merchant Marine suffered the highest percent of war dead of any service in World War II – 1 in 26 died., ■ 4 June 1944 – Commander Earl Trosino, USNR, the Engineering officer of an ASW aircraft carrier group, saved a German submarine from sinking, enabling its secret capture. The U-505 is on permanent exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago., ■ 23 December 1950 – Ship's Master Leonard LaRue saved 14,000 Korean refugees, navigating enemy mine fields without the aid of onboard mine detectors., And in peacetime? , Some graduates continued maritime careers, others as career US Navy and US Coast Guard officers, while others excelled in business and industry., ■ 1958 – Captain Raymond Eisenberg, educator, helped shape US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY, influencing generations of cadets here in the United States as well as for the newly-established Indonesian maritime program., Dedicated by the Pennsylvania Schoolship Association to the memory of our graduates who served their country in peace and war.