History of the Crawford Family
Now in its fifth generation, Crawford Nautical School has been training mariners since 1923. Our grand-uncle Jack Sullivan opened the School in New Orleans. Twenty years later our grandparents, Capt. Lorcan F. Crawford and his wife Hannah, moved the school to San Pedro, California.
Since then the School has had branches in San Diego, Wilmington and San Francisco, California. In 1985 the School moved to Seattle, where we continue to prepare mariners for US Coast Guard Deck and Engine licensing examinations and STCW competencies in particular, and for the vocation of becoming good shipmates in general.
Our father William P. Crawford died in March 2013, fittingly while teaching. He was first licensed as Unlimited Master when he was 21 years old, directed Crawford Nautical School’s California locations for 20 years and authored the Mariner series of highly regarded texts on terrestrial navigation, celestial navigation, weather and Rules of the Road. He continued teaching at our Seattle branch for another 20 years.
Even before our family migrated to the US from Ireland, the Crawfords were water-borne. Our grandfather sailed around Cape Horn (and was swept overboard) on the Sailing Bark “Fingal.” A subsequent wave swept him back. One of our father’s ships was torpedoed and sunk in World War II. A second was caught in the sights of a kamikaze pilot. Grandfather, father, uncles, cousins and brothers have served as Ordinary Seamen, Able-Bodied Seamen and the range of officers from Third Mate to Masters of their own vessels. Their ships — fishing boats, tankers, towboats, container ships — have carried cargoes ranging from oil to lions and tigers to all parts of the globe. Here are photos of a few of their vessels:
New Directions
Crawford Nautical School has entered into an agreement with the Deep Sea Fishermen’s Union, the Inlandboatmen’s Union and the Sailors’ Union of the Pacific to provide our curriculum and experience in the development of training programs for entry-level as well as seasoned mariners in the maritime sector. CNS will no longer have a physical location. COVID and the expanding use of virtual platforms for training have led us to make the move into cyberspace. We will still be offering our Coast Guard-approved training courses as well as tutorials for mariners preparing for licensing exams, but on a stricter schedule than in the past. And we will continue to offer career guidance and credential assistance (original and renewal applications).
We are in our 100th year of marine education as a family; my brother John and I have been doing this for 40 years just in Seattle. It has been an honor to work with so many dedicated, professional, funny, charming seamen and we will miss seeing your faces. I will miss the opportunities to see pictures of your families and pets and to be educated by your sea stories. But we will still be available if there is anything we can do to help you with your career.
Finally we are extremely excited for the opportunity to work with the DSFU, IBU and SUP to help mariners — the finest people we have ever known.
A detailed schedule will follow as we set training dates.
In Memoriam: Capt. Thomas B Crawford
February 9, 1951 - December 20, 2021
Finished with Engines
Contributor: Patsy Crawford