Boy seaman

Naval rating

A boy seaman (plural boy seamen) is a boy who serves as seaman or is trained for such service.

Prior to the First World War, the United States Navy allowed males under the age of 18 to serve on ships who were officially referred to as "boys". In 1828, ships were allowed to have boys between 14 and 18 at the ratio of one boy for every two guns the ship carried. (i. e. a 44 gun frigate could have up to 22 boys in its crew.) Article 464 of Naval Regulations published in 1833 stated, "A recruiting officer shall enter no boy under thirteen years of age; nor any person under twenty one years of age, without the consent of their parent or guardian". The Circular Relating to the Enlistment of Boys in the United States Navy issued on 8 April 1875 by Secretary of the Navy George M. Robeson, provided for the enlistment, with parental consent, of boys between the ages of 15 and 18 (i. e. not past their 18th birthday) until their 21st birthday. Each boy enlisted has to be "of robust frame, intelligent, of perfectly sound and healthy constitution, free from any physical defects or malformation; and not subject to fits." The boys also had to be at least 5 feet 1 inch high and measure 30 inches around the chest. The boys would be enlisted as second class boys and be paid $10.50 per month and one ration. Boys were not permitted to make allotments to their parents and were allowed to draw only one dollar per month for "pocket money". This practice was officially called a "minority enlistment" and remained in effect, except that the minimum age of enlistment was increased, until the 1960s. The training of the boys was to take place on the steam frigate USS Minnesota, then stationed at the New York Navy Yard. Boys who proved their abilities onboard Minnesota could be promoted to First Class Boy. The boys would be transferred to a sea going vessel upon their 18th birthday. In the 1880s, Captain (later Rear Admiral) Stephen B. Luce established an apprentice training program in the U. S. Navy where males as young as 15 could be enlisted, with their parents' permission, and then serve an apprenticeship on training ships before being assigned to the fleet. The first six months were on a stationary training ship where the apprentices learned fundamental skills which included basic literacy, gunnery, seamanship and shipboard maintenance. The next phase of training was assignment to a cruising training ship where the apprentice was expected to complete both a winter and a summer cruise before being sent to ship in the fleet. Luce's theory behind the apprentice training program was to provide the Navy with young sailors who were already trained and adapted to shipboard life. This was in contrast to traditional recruiting which would take any able bodied applicant and have them learn on the job. The problem with the traditional method was that many of the new "landsmen" (i. e. inexperienced sailors) were unable to adapt to Navy life or were sometimes criminals. The apprentice program, Luce hoped, would give the Navy the opportunity to make good sailors during their formative years which, in the long run, would provide better trained and more disciplined sailors in the enlisted ranks. The apprentice program ended with the establishment of the Recruit Training Center at Naval Station Great Lakes in 1911. In the few years prior to World War I, the Navy rapidly expanded and needed new sailors in large numbers as quickly as possible. The result was the abolition of the apprentice program and the establishment of an 8 week "boot camp" which would transform civilians into sailors in a much shorter time frame. In 1909, Navy regulations were changed so that the minimum age for enlistment was raised to 17 with parental permission and 18 without. Recruits enlisted under age 18 served until they reached age 21 at which point, they could be discharged or, if they chose, re enlist for four years.