from the chairmanship of the Society, following 51 years as a committee member. Mead was 97 years old. After the Second World War After the Second World War, the society concluded that there were by then sufficient facilities for sea-training provided by national authorities. It continued to provide sea-kits for many young seafarers and, where necessary, offered grants for their education, but in the 1950s the Society began to insist that cadets thus helped should have completed a good general education, obtaining a minimum of four GCE passes at O level. In this way the Marine Society pioneered what was subsequently accepted as standard practice for the entry of officers into the Merchant Navy. Between 1940 and 1987, as the society's reserves increased, it was not only able to help individual seafarers but also to make grants to many maritime charities. In 1981 it provided the base funds for the Marine Adventure Sailing Trust, a limited life investment trust fund, which enabled it to make further substantial grants to the Sea Cadet Corps, TS Foudroyant, Ocean Youth Club and other maritime youth charities. In 1976 the society amalgamated with various other maritime charities with similar aims, including the Incorporated Thames Nautical Training Trust (Thames Nautical Training College located four times on a ), the Seafarers Education Service, the Sailors' Home and Red Ensign Club, the Merchant Navy Comforts Service Trust and the British Ship Adoption Society. The merger of the Seafarers Education Service with the Marine Society at this time was hugely significant and helped to ensure the continued relevance of both operations. The Service consisted of the Marine Society College of the Sea and Seafarers Libraries, and had been inaugurated in 1919 by Albert Mansbridge who had earlier founded the Workers Educational Association. Both the College of the Sea and Seafarers Libraries continue to flourish today. For the past 30 years, the principal objectives of the Marine Society have been to facilitate and to provide practical and financial support for the education, training and well-being of all professional seafarers and to encourage young people to embark on maritime careers. For many years the Marine Society has had strong ties with the Sea Cadet Corps, not only as benefactor and landlord to the Sea Cadet Association, but also by providing sea training opportunities for hundreds of sea cadets each year. It was because of these ties plus the complementary objectives