Massachusetts Maritime Academy - Muster Yearbook (Buzzards Bay, MA)

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A NOTE OF APPRECIATION This year, 1953, marks the passing of Lieutenant Commander Richard P. Hodsdon from the Academy scene. His retirement at the close of our last cruise was met with our deepest regret, since we realized that his departure would leave a vacancy at the Academy which could never be filled by any other person. It is not in the classroom that the vacancy will persist, but in the hearts of the midshipmen themselves. Mr. Hodsdon will occupy a place among us wherever we may go, for the knowledge which he has imparted to us cannot be found in any text- book, nor can it be forgotten with the passage of time. We of the Class of 1953 wish to extend to Mr. Hodsdon our most sincere congratulations on his completion of a long and successful career in education, and to thank him for his patience and understanding both in the classroom and on board the Charleston during our too-brief association with him. We will always be grateful for the opportunity to have served under him. The Class of 1953

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DEDICATION For many years past, it has been the custom of each graduating class to honor an outstanding member of the faculty by dedicating their yearbook to him. This year we are departing from this tradition in order to display our appreciation of the efforts by a distinguished alumnus to further the aims of the Academy and its graduates. We dedicate this 1953 MUSTER to Captain Thomas E. Burke, a graduate of the Nautical School with the Class of 1939, in recognition of his unselfish contributions towards the welfare of the Academy and its graduates, both through his activity in the Massachusetts Maritime Academy Alumni Association, and through his own individual efforts. Captain Burke has carried on this activity for several years, often subordinating his own personal interests in favor of those of the Academy. It is a source of great pride to each of us to realize that, with our graduation from this Academy, we join the ranks of the men like Captain Burke who have preceded us.

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HISTORY OF THE ACADEMY- In 1891, the Massachusetts Nautical School, forerunner of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, was established. At .that time, the bark Enterprise served as the training ship for young men aspiring to follow the sea. M any of these men have gone on to become leaders in the maritime field. A new training ship, the barkentinc RANGER , was acquired from the U. S. Navy in 1909. This vessel, later renamed the NANTUCKET , carried the cadets of the Massachusetts Nautical School to the four corners of the world as good will ambassadors of their country. After World War I, the Nautical School began to find itself getting behind the times, but the proud Nancy , as she was called, continued to traverse the oceans of the world for two more decades, despite numerous at- tempts to abolish the school during the depression. But once again as the dark clouds of war began to gather, Massachusetts was called upon to supply the sea with the men who make our Merchant Marine and Navy the greatest in the world. To keep pace with this ever increasing demand, the buildings and facilities of the shore base was established. The course was necessarily shortened, and every eighteen months a new group of young officers took their places in the U. S. Merchant Marine as graduates of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. At the end of the war, the course was lengthened to three years, and additional sub- jects were introduced so that the graduates could take with them a college degree, in ad- dition to their Naval Reserve commissions and Merchant Marine licenses. In 1948 the gunboat CHARLESTON was acquired and, in an effort to bring ship and school closer together, the Academy was moved to the State Pier in Buzzards Bay where the ship could be berthed. Shore facilities were improved, but whether this will become a permanent base or not is something that time alone will determine. Whatever the future holds for our Acad- emy, it is the sincere belief of every young man who has had the good fortune to be one of her graduates that she will continue to up- hold the traditions of the state of Massachu- setts by producing many of the finest seafarers in the world.