A Disappointing Celebration of 100 Years of Sea Scouts

For the 100^th birthday of Sea Scouts of America, the SSS Odyssey was chosen to host a fete.  Consequently, 750 invitations to a party were hand printed, hand addressed and sent out.  These went to most of the maritime industry, yacht clubs and Scouting friends throughout Puget Sound, WA. A group of sea shanty singers was booked to perform, a Boy Scout executive was contacted to speak about the history of Sea Scouts, the SSS Odyssey was cleaned and draped in flags and banners.  Soup for the shanty singers was prepared, cookies and cakes were obtained for 1,000 guests, and a venue was booked.  It promised to be a festive evening of song and celebration.

The soup and rustic bread was assigned to me.  I was to arrive at the venue and have soup ready for the sea shanty singers (about 12 plus wives).  I was told they would arrive at 5PM.  I was to be at the Maritime Museum on Dock Street, a place I am familiar with.

The soup was not hard to prepare, and I purchased rolls for an accompaniment.  I had two pots of clam chowder and a vegetarian option of tomato basil and pasta.  Two roaster ovens were being brought by Mr. Robert Goux, who had spent untold hours planning this event.  There was the usual flurry of preparation and boxes and boxes of accompanying flowers, supplies and implements.

Upon arriving promptly at the Maritime Museum, I found the site gutted and under construction.  This was slightly disturbing.  I drove around the area, trying to find where the Maritime Museum might have migrated.  Alas.  No sign of it.  I called several people, most of whom did not answer.  I had a new cell phone I barely knew how to work, but managed to connect to one person who said he did not know where it was.  Then: Ah-OOOO-gah!  My phone battery went dead.

Time to switch from modern technology to Daniel Boone mode.  I needed to figure out where this place was.  Getting out my best intuition flags, I semaphored my way up the street and found the museum in a warehouse.  I came in from the back side and discovered other Sea Scout adults unloading cookies.

There were supposed to be about 1,000 cookies, but somehow, the community college that provided them got the order messed up and gave us 3 or 4 times that many.  There were trays and tray of cookies.  Which is a good thing if you know teenage Sea Scouts.  They will never go to waste.

I asked about tables to serve the soup and electrical outlets.  There were tables of various sizes and a very 

helpful coordinator named Earla.  Unfortunately she had to deal with some very dicey electrical outlets, which kept turning off anytime someone plugged something into them.

We got tables set up and tablecloths one, but had to be very creative in finding electrical outlets to plug roasters and crockpots into.  For about an hour or more, we could not get the roasters nor crockpots turned on.  I was getting panicky as the sea shanty singers were due any moment.  Blessedly, they were caught in traffic, as they were driving from 2-3 hours away.  They live on Whidbey Island, and a sunny Friday in Puget Sound meant traffic issues.  They did not show up until 6:30.  Fortunately, most of them came hungry and ate my pots of soup and rolls, which were by now warmed up.

But very few others showed up.  Only about 25 of our Sea Scouts and a smattering of parents came out of the 1,000 guests expected.  The other Sea Scout ships were no-shows, as were the executives from Scout Hall.  None of the yacht clubs, none of the maritime trade, nor anyone really, showed up. The 750 invitations resulted in not one single person coming.

The sea shanty singers were a delight however, and entertained our 25 Sea Scouts and a few parents.  

The regimental silver was polished and brightly displayed, but it was too bad to have to pack up enormous cakes and thousands of cookies because no one came.

The Sea Scouts that came however, worked like fiends packing things, carrying boxes to cars, and putting away chairs.  Then they climbing into their 90 foot wooden sailboat and went off to Opening Day of boating season up in Seattle, a 30 mile jaunt in the dead of night.  Early next morning, the SSS Odyssey was again bedraped with flags and looking spiffy.  It is a shame that the night before, no one came to celebrate this amazing program that is daily creating leaders and responsible youth.