Ever wonder what the original Sea Scout manual, written by Warington Baden-Powell, looked like? You can download a scan of it (and several other interesting historical Sea Scout documents) from this site.
In the introduction, he wrote: Such a lot of Scouts want to become Sea Scouts that it has become necessary to write a book specially designed to help them. Of course you know all that there is in the book Scouting for Boys. Well all that lot goes with this, for all the rules and laws of Scouting apply to Sea Scouts. Then there are titles, qualifications, badges, and duties which have nothing to do with Shore Scouts, but everything to do with Sea Scouting.
I am not going to tell you all you should know to be fit to command a battleship, but just enough for you to be able to handle a boat safely and to assist in harbour and coast work and to enable you to give useful and reliable information about your district waters, and about things you see happening, and above all to enable you to be useful in saving life or in preventing casualties occurring.