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Maryland Historical Society
Library of Maryland History
201 W. Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: 410-685-3750
Fax: 410-385-2105
E-mail: library @mdhs.org
Buy the Book
Maryland
History In Prints: 1752-1900
by Laura Rice |
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![[image]](http://mdhsimage.mdhs.org/Library/Images/RiceOnline/Access/Imagea014.jpg) |
The Floating School
From Thirty-fifth Annual Report of the Board... of Public Schools,
opp.
p. 5
1864
Engraving
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In September 1857, the city’s public school system and the Baltimore Board
of Trade inaugurated a joint venture to correct the “scarcity and inefficiency
of seamen” available to work for local shipowners. The Floating School
was held onboard the Ontario, a former sloop of war moored at City
Block. In addition to creating an able work force, the school’s organizers
had a more long-term goal: “The main feature of the Floating School is
the elevation of the profession and character of the sailor [who is often
thought] as unworthy of the respect to which men in other pursuits are
entitled, and which they have a right to demand. It is in consequence
of this low estimate of the sailor’s profession that persons of respectable
standing are deterred from its pursuit.” Many of the school’s students
were described as “a class of boys, most of whom could neither be persuaded
nor compelled to attend the ordinary schools, and others who were addicted
to truancy…[many] were considered incorrigible.” The school sought
to elevate seafarers to a higher level of citizenship.
In addition to offering an education to disadvantaged boys, the school
also admitted “men of experience as seaman, but wholly uneducated…. The
ages of the pupils range from eight to thirty years; and their studies
begin with the alphabet and continue through the higher branches of theoretical
and practical navigation. The grown man is seated beside the boy
of eight years and engaged with him in studying the letters of the alphabet.”
Many students left school temporarily to go to sea, returning later to
acquire additional skills.
During the Civil War, student enrollment declined precipitously, and
in October 1865, the school’s administrators were forced to cease operations.
Three years later, the Ontario was sold at auction.
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![[image]](http://mdhsimage.mdhs.org/Library/Images/RiceOnline/Full/Imagef014.jpg)
