The Marine Society & Sea Cadets

The Marine Society & Sea Cadets was established in 2004 from a merger between The Marine Society and the Sea Cadet Association and is now Britain’s largest maritime charity.

The role of The Marine Society & Sea Cadets is to provide personal development opportunities and support in a maritime context for young people and professional seafarers from all the sea services.

This is done by:

promoting careers at sea and highlighting the opportunities for employment that exist in the maritime sector

enhancing the well being of those at sea through the provision of a range of services
managing the activities of the Sea Cadet Corps

The Sea Cadet Corps is a nationwide voluntary uniformed youth organisation run by enthusiastic volunteers, open to young people aged 12 to 18, Marine Cadets for young people ages 13 to 18, and with Junior Sections open to those of 10 to 12 years of age, regardless of sex, religion or race, and within the bounds of safety to themselves and others, to those with special needs.

We have a rank structure modelled on that of the Royal Navy, giving Cadets an opportunity to progress and take up positions of responsibility as they acquire skills and seniority. On reaching 18, many Cadets choose to stay on as adult instructors, when their training and talents become invaluable.

The remit of the Sea Cadets is to provide fun, friendship, adventure and learning new skills based on waterborne and land based activities.

Founded in 1756, The Marine Society has provided guidance, life-long learning opportunities and support for professional seafarers from all the sea services since before the time of Nelson.

Today's seafarers find that The College of the Sea levels the educational playing field by ensuring that they have the advice, support and access to similar learning opportunities as are enjoyed by their counterparts ashore.

This is achieved through the provision of a comprehensive educational support programme which includes distance-taught packages tailored for seafarers and maritime professionals; the provision of a library and a news service to ships throughout the world; financial support to UK seafarers; plus expert impartial advice and guidance on all aspects of life at sea.

We have a 250 year-old remit to encourage young people to make informed career choices about the sea and about an industry that employs a quarter of a million people with a £38 billion turnover - and that's just in the UK!