GREENSBORO -- For a while, Sea Scouting seemed washed up.

In 1998, Greensboro's much honored Davy Jones Ship -- "ship" is the equivalent of a Boy Scout "troop" -- disbanded 70 years after Charles Hagan Jr. and others activated it.

Another Ship -- No. 3 -- was commissioned here in 2001. Whether it will achieve the lofty reputation of the Davy Jones Ship remains to be seen.

In 1939, Davy Jones Sea Scouts were named the nation's best ship by the national Boy Scouts of America. The ship was recognized for its dedication, hard and outstanding work, including maintaining in tiptop shape a flotilla of boats at its High Rock Lake Sea Scout Base.

"The camaraderie was unbelievable," said Bob Roberts, of Carrboro, who joined the ship in late 1939.

He said the Sea Scouts he met never allowed their love of the water to evaporate. As soon as many could afford it, they retired to Oriental, a coastal boating haven.

The boys of '39 -- their ages were from 15 to 20 -- and others who later joined the ship are old salts now. They will gather for a reunion and swapping of sea stories Wednesday at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on Greene Street, from 1100 hours to 1500 hours. That's nautical talk for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Anyone ever associated with Sea Scouting is invited.

The guest of honor will be Hagan, now in his 90s. He was the adult skipper of the '39 award-winning ship. In 2004, the Sea Scout base at High Rock was named in his honor.

Holy Trinity sponsored the ship in those early years. The youthful sailors met there one night a week. On weekends, they took off for High Rock Lake.

"I remember getting up at 4 o'clock on Saturday mornings, going to High Rock and working like a dog all weekend," Roberts said.

Each Davy Jones member sought to achieve Sea Scouting's highest rank, Quartermaster. That's about the same as Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts.

Quartermaster awards were presented not at a Court of Honor, as in the Boy Scouts, but at a Bridge of Honor.

Sea Scouts wore uniforms almost identical to those of sailors in the U.S. Navy: circular white hats, white pants and white jerseys in summer; navy blue trousers and blue jerseys in winter. They also had a work uniform -- and work they did. The Davy Jones Ship owned more than a dozen boats, some they built themselves.

At the base, the Sea Scouts kept meticulous notes of their daily doings in copper-bound logbooks. They stored the books in slots in a copper chest, made from tanks of the Etta Meyer, the first boat the Davy Jones Ship owned.

Only one of five logbooks, from 1943, survives. It's on display at the Hammerstone Scout Museum in Lillington.

The copper chest is unaccounted for. The former Sea Scouts would love to find it to display at the Hagan Sea Scout Base.

"We'd like to hear from anyone who has any information about that chest," Roberts said. "It may have been melted down (for ammo in World War II ), but it may be out there somewhere."

The highlight of a given year in the Davy Jones Ship was a summer sailing outing on the Chesapeake Bay. One year, the Scouts made news when they rescued four people whose boat had capsized.

In the later decades of the 20th century, Sea Scouting went into decline. Doug Thorn, of the Old North State Chapter of the Boy Scouts of America, says that during Sea Scouting's heyday many boys lacked access to boats. Sea Scouting made boating possible.

But as the nation prospered, more people bought boats. Sailing camps for youngsters became popular, at the expense of Sea Scouting.

The former Davy Jones boys are determined not to let memories of their ship sink away. They're looking for mementos for a permanent exhibit at the Hagan Sea Scout Base.

They've already assembled photos taken by a Life magazine photographer who spent a weekend in '39 at High Rock. The magazine planned a story and photo spread about the ship being the nation's best.

Don't rush to the public library to thumb through the 1939 bound volumes of Life. The spread never appeared.

"Hitler invaded Poland that week and overrode our story," Roberts said.

And two years later, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the United States entered World War II.

Naturally, Roberts joined the Navy. After the war, he came home and became an adult leader in the Davy Jones Ship,

Later, his job as a civil engineer and professional land surveyor kept him busy and away from boats.

But on his 80th birthday two years ago, he got to do what he had loved to do as a boy. His daughter took him to Beaufort, where they spent the day sailing.

Contact Jim Schlosser at 373-7081 or jschlosser@news-record.com