Massachusetts Nautical School (1867-1872)

St 1859, c 285 established the Nautical Branch of the State Reform School in Massachusetts, under the oversight of the Board of State Charities and its own board of trustees. Delinquent boys were to be instructed in seamanship and navigation, and if successful, transferred to outside shipping. A ship was purchased Dec. 1859, dedicated June 1860 as the Massachusetts, and staffed with fifty boys taken from the State Reform School in July 1860. In Dec. 1860 it was stationed at Salem, but the following year it guarded Boston Harbor. Inmates were graduated to the naval or merchant marine service as early as 1861.

St 1863, c 139 set the age of eligibility at fourteen to eighteen. In 1865 a new ship was purchased, which was dedicated in Feb. 1866, and named after the principal donor, George M. Barnard. In June 1866 the ship Massachusetts was moved to New Bedford. Per St 1867, c 260, the institution itself was renamed the Massachusetts Nautical School.

By Oct. 1870 so many school inmates had been shipped (i.e., to the outside) that the Massachusetts was laid up and then sold. But by 1872 the decline in shipping commerce slowed this exodus, and the school superintendent noted an increase in average inmate age, seriousness of crime for which committed, and generally a shift to punishment rather than reform (Board of State Charities. Annual report, Jan. 1872)

Per St 1872, c 68, the school was abolished and its inmates transferred back to the State Reform School by the close of June 1872.

NAME AUTHORITY NOTE. Series relating to the agencies described above can be found by searching the following access points for the time period stated: 1859-1867--Massachusetts. State Reform School (Westborough, Mass.). Nautical Branch; 1867-1872--Massachusetts Nautical School (1867-1872)

From the description of Agency history record. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145430119