Scout stave
A Scout staff (or Scout stave) is a shoulder-high wooden pole, traditionally carried Boy Scouts. Its main purpose was as a hiking stick, but it had a number of other uses in emergency situations and can be used for pioneering.
History
When Robert Baden-Powell published in 1908 the manual Scouting for Boys, he recommended that Scouts should carry "a strong stick, about as high as your nose, marked in feet and inches for measuring". After listing the various uses to which the staff could be put, he added "If you get the chance, cut your own staff, but remember to get permission first".
It was said to have been based on a staff used by a Royal Engineer officer during the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War.
This theory is supported by an article in the 1941 "The Scouter" where it is recorded that:-
When B-P was in command of the Native Levy in Ashanti in 1895-96, the detachment of R. E.’s (Royal Engineers) was under Captain R. S. Curtis, later Major-General Sir Reginald Curtis. One of the most important jobs was the laying of the field telegraph in the bush.
The sketch here reproduced was made on the spot by B-P. The figure in the right foreground holding a staff is Captain Curtis. As he sketched, B-P always wanting to know the whys and wherefores of things - asked Captain Curtis why he always carried such a long staff. "It is useful for pole-jumping streams, for beating down undergrowth, and for feeling for footings in swamps." "Why have you marked it in feet and inches? " was the next question.
"So that I can make quick measurements to give to my men."
Captain Curtis was later Chief Engineer in the South Africa Constabulary and was the last commander of that force before it was disbanded.
In after years, he recalled the incident of the staff and asked B-P if this had been the origin of the Scout staff. B.- P admitted that it was from seeing its value in Ashanti that he had included the staff in a Scout’s equipment.
In August 1917, Baden-Powell wrote a critical article in the Headquarters Gazette about "the matter of Scouts being allowed to parade without their staffs, which for several reasons is regrettable".
At the 3rd World Scout Jamboree in 1929, French Scouts constructed an ~25m replica of the Eiffel Tower from Scout staves.[1]
Description
The Patrol Leaders carried a white pennant on their staves, showing a silhouette of their Patrol animal.
Uses
The scout staff has many uses. The most important is safety and balance while hiking with a pack of camping gear. Staves can be purely decorative while others can be strictly functional. A scout stave is more than a stick picked up off the ground.
Some uses from various Scouting publications:
- Making an improvised stretcher
- Holding back a crowd
- Jumping over a ditch (pole vault)
- Testing the depth of a river
- Helping another Scout over a high wall
- Construction of a light bridge, hut or Camp flagpole
- Self-defence
- A tent pole for a small tent
- making an improvised camp broom
- Feeling your way over rough or marshy ground
- Measuring distances[2]
- Estimating the height of trees or tall buildings[3]
- Linking Scouts together on a night hike
- Making a splint for an injured leg
- Stopping an aggressive dog
- Beating out bush fires
See Also
References
- ↑ Tenderfoot to Queen's Scout, The Canadian Boy Scouts' Association, 1955 (p. 24)
- ↑ Starting to Scout: Tenderfoot and Second Class Tests, The Canadian General Council of the Boy Scouts' Association, Ottawa 1944 (p. 7)
- ↑ Tenderfoot to Queen’s Scout 1955 (pp. 84-85)