ocean city academy
Initial Idea
In the years prior to World War II, the nation was gearing for a conflict, and a patriotic state of mind had taken hold among the population. Capt. Jernee’s next brainchild does not seem so far-fetched as it otherwise might.
Capt. Jernee went to the city fathers and proposed that they build a school for young boys to train them in navigation and prepare them to defend their country. The architectural plans drawn for the institution was modeled after the layout of a military base. The school was to be located at Elder Island, which lies in the bay on the north side of the ninth Street bridge.
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ocean city academy
Idea on Hold
Capt. Jernee’s concept was supported by his friend John B. Kelly, whom Capt. Jernee’s had met during the 1932 National Lifeguard Championship. Kelly took the idea one better, however, and suggested using old World War I destroyers as classrooms and barracks for the school.
The ships were to have been brought into the bay at high tide and run aground. But the outbreak of World War II sent the destroyers to other waters, and the plans for Capt. Jernee’s school were sunk.
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ocean city academy
Idea becomes Reality
Following a tour of duty in the Navy during WWII, Capt. Jernee returned to Ocean City in the postwar years with a picture of the Ocean City Naval Training Academy still clear in his mind. Capt. Jernee was never one to let what he felt was a good idea die.
So he bought the decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard Station (a former Life Saving Service station) at 3601 Central Ave. There with the help of his son, Jack, Jr., he started what became know as the Ocean City Academy.
Note: Jack, Jr. had attended the Pennsylvania Maritime Academy and served in the Merchant Marine as a 3rd Mate during WWII.
Opening Day 1946
ocean city academy
Naval Training
The Ocean City Academy was basically a summer camp with a nautical atmosphere.
At the peak of its operations the school was attended by 54 boys and whose training was overseen by 5 officers.
There was naval training and discipline, and the boys really got a lot out of it.
ocean city academy
Old-fashioned Discipline
The school’s slogan was “Mold for Manhood.”
Boys between the ages of 10 and 18 attended the school, and under Capt. Jernee’s strict guidance received instruction in lifesaving, semaphore, seamanship and just plain, old-fashioned discipline.
ocean city academy
Jernee Manor is Born
Capt. Jernee’s camp operated from 1946 but had to be disbanded in 1951 when his son Jack, Jr. was recalled to the Navy for the Korean War.
Capt. Jernee realized that he could not effectively run the school without his son’s help. So, The Ocean City Academy ended, and the Jernee Manor was born
But Capt. Jernee never lost his interest in molding young minds or in promoting the good qualities he felt Ocean City inspired.
