Sea cadets gets a new commanding officer

TS TIBURON, the land-based training ship of sea cadets, and the only training ship of school_going children in KZN, has recently celebrated the inauguration of a brand new commanding officer.

The training ship, which specialises in training school-going children to the ways of the maritime world to enable them to follow a career in the maritime industry, has been training children since October 1916.

The previous commanding officer, Lt Commander James Young stepped down after being the commanding officer of this unit for 15 years and his position was taken over by Sub-Lieutenant Denise Gouws, the second female commanding officer in the unit’s century of existence.

Sub-Lt Gouws is a successful business owner in Scottburgh. The unit’s numbers have dwindled very low and the unit even threatened to close its doors just before its 100th birthday, but interest and numbers has risen quite high since Sub-Lt Gouws took over the unit in 2018.

The unit boasts with some 35 cadets, some of whom are proficient sailors, and with the numbers of cadets growing steadily, the maritime industry will soon be able to tap into this willing, able and skilled set of young people. Sea Cadets South Africa, a non-profit organisation, has units such as TS Tiburon across South Africa and even inland and have been in the business of making young people employable in the maritime industry for well over a century. The units are managed by officers and staff who give up their time voluntarily to train the cadets.

Anyone willing to join as cadet or volunteer can email the unit on cadets@tiburon.co.za.