Historical Facts in Scouting
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William Howie and the 1st Belize Merlin Sea Scout Unit
The 1st Belize Sea Scout Unit was organized in 2000 by Staff Sergeant William Howie, (Belize Defence Force Volunteers) with a crew of 2 Petty Officers, 6 adult leaders, and 18 naval ratings. At that time, Staff Sergeant Howie was the military advisor to The Scout Association of Belize. Sailing training activities took place on Saturdays for the next four years. In 2004 new members were recruited, and the 1st Belize Merlin Sea Scout unit was officially formed.
Initially, the Sea Scouts enjoyed a cruiser yacht donated to the Sea Scout program by Mr. John Searle Sr. The Sea Scouts during this same period were gifted 6 ocean-going kayaks for use at their camp on Moho Caye.
As the ship’s crew and our activities expanded, through the close connection of Staff Sergeant Howie with British Forces Belize, the Sea Scouts were gifted a further 5 Bosun sailing dinghies, sails were also included as part of the donation.
With the reformation of the Sea Scouts, Howie modernized the previous outdated uniforms using Royal Navy uniforms, and for the first-time Sea Scouts were on national parades such as the Queen’s Birthday and Remembrance Day wearing full dress whites for the male and female crew members; thanks to the kind assistance of Sir George Brown, Lord Michael Ashcroft, Mr. P. Milligan and several others who greatly assisted with the purchase of uniforms, life jackets, and assisted with transportation.
As part of our Royal Yacht Association-approved training program, they had bi-monthly training weekends in and around the local coastal areas of Belize. They were fortunate to receive the full support of the Commanders of the Belize Defence Force with permission to have a regular training program with the Maritime Wing and their successor, the Belize Coast Guard.
The Sea Scout Unit was invited on numerous occasions to the visiting Royal Navy, and American and Taiwanese warships, allowing the crew to familiarize themselves with various other friendly nations that encouraged team building and training on operational warships.
Under Howie’s leadership, the Unit also took part in the yearly Baron Bliss Day and Harbor Regattas and as part of the training program, were invited by the Mexican Ambassador and Commander of the Mexican Navy in Chetumal in 2004 to deploy on an annual basis for 1 week to train as full-time regular sailors undertaking various naval activities.
During Howie’s command of the Sea Scout program and as a military adviser, brought back the Master at Arms badge program for all Scouts culminating in all crew members achieving this qualification and allowing them to compete in the yearly national Scout marksmanship competition. Also, while in command he took part in all Scout training programs. He was awarded the Chief Scout Commendation for Good Service and Service Flash Award for raising the National and Caricom National Flags and leading the Unit in the raising and lowering of the aforementioned flags.
Staff Sergeant Howie was in command of the Sea Scouts training ship Merlin from its commissioning in 2000 to 2009 when he returned to the UK to rejoin the RAF Reserves as a weapons instructor with the Air Training Cadet Organization on 181 Squadron.
Thank you, Staff Sergeant William Howie, for your nine years of invaluable leadership to the Sea Scout Program in Belize.