![]() ![]() ![]() Mariner Boot Camp, begun in 2016, has so far trained 104 students, 28 of whom are women. Courses run the gamut from the Boot Camp, designed for total novices, to longtime professionals updating or upgrading credentials and licenses. MAMA, which absorbed the Tidewater School of Navigation in 2006, trains approximately 3,000 mariners annually. “We have relationships with people at Norfolk Tug, McAllister, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, Marathon Petroleum in the Western Rivers,” notes Caroline Smith, coordinator at Mariner Boot Camp, an adjunct of the Mid-Atlantic Maritime Academy (MAMA). And, because these schools are focused on turning out employable mariners, most also have close links to employers. The Chesapeake is blessed with a range of maritime schools with training options for mariners of all stripes. Or, you can get formal maritime training at a dedicated maritime school. Another-increasingly rare-is to “come up through the hawsepipe,” by climbing aboard a vessel with little more than a Merchant Mariner’s Credential (MMC), a Transportation Worker’s identification Card (TWIC) and a work ethic. There are three ways to enter the merchant marines. ![]() “We draw from Newbern, N.C., where they make their living on the water.” “Our problem in Maryland is most don’t know we’re here,” agrees Bart Rogers, assistant vice president at Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training in Piney Point, Md. Yet the Bay’s multi-faceted maritime operations are some of its better-kept secrets. “We must maintain enough ships and mariners to compete internationally, support our military, and remain commercially viable.” The Chesapeake, world-renowned for its pleasure boating, also boasts two of the busiest commercial ports in the nation. Maritime Administrator Rear Admiral Mark Buzby. ¶ “A healthy, resilient marine transportation industry is vital to America’s economic strength and national defense,” says U.S. ![]() economic power and providing wartime supply. While navies have protected and marauded for their nations (looking at you, Sir Henry Morgan), it’s the merchant marine that was instrumental in building U.S. People have been going down to the sea in ships-and coracles, canoes, and strung-together bamboo rafts-since our species first learned how to make a craft that will float, but also carry a little something to sell, trade, or barter. ![]()
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