The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.2005, Page 15

Vol. 59 #3
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
101
The Ferry Repossessed
Part two of three
Told by Erling Palsson, Gudjon Valgeirsson and Valentinus
Olason at Akranes, Iceland
A continuation of the adventures of three
Icelandic men, who after arriving in Turkey
realized that they were up to something that
was not legal—they were about to steal a ferry
boat.
Time to Sail
Now was the right time to start work-
ing. Everything had been carefully
planned. We rushed into the engine room,
for now we had to move fast to put the oil
pumps in and start the ship's main engines.
They were 2X500 hp Deutz engines. We all
worked together on putting in the oil
pumps. Gudjon checked the ventilation
and cooling system and pumped up the oil
pressure on the main engines. When that
was done, we only had to wait for the
bridge to be ready before we could start the
engines.
Now it was up to Erling and Johan to
get to the bridge without being seen. They
had to pass the dining room where the
Turks were with Philippe. The music of
ABBA sounded loud in the speakers so
they got by without being heard.
Valentinus followed them so there were
three of them in the bridge. They found a
chart of the harbour and studied it while
waiting for Gudjon to start the engines.
When the time was right the engines
started and then everything went on full
speed. Johan and Philippe ran back and cut
the remaining shore ropes. The engines
were run on full power.
When the Turks realized the engines
had been started they ran down to the
engine room and Johan followed them.
When they got there they saw Gudjon
whistling, as if he had never done anything
but run these engines. They were shocked
and looked like they had seen a ghost.
Johan was prepared in case the Turks
would get desperate. He grabbed a big iron
axle and showed them that he was not
scared to use it if necessary. The Turks saw
that he was serious and ran away.
In the bridge things were going fast
and turning the ship in the harbour went
successfully. It was easy to steer with its
two propellers and three steering gears. All
the lights were switched off and the ship
was put on full speed in order to get out of
the three sea-miles limit of Cyprus. At that
time the Turks came running up to the
bridge, scared to death. One of them spoke
quite good English. He said that the
"Lampaert brothers", as they called Johan
and Philippe, were going to kill them.
Erling told them they didn't have to worry;
"They have to ask for my permission
before they do that." That calmed the
Turks down and they thought of Erling as
their saviour. They were now offered to
row back to land in one of the ferry's
lifeboats, but they wouldn't dare to do that.
There was no way to change their minds,
so they stayed on board and went with us
to Italy.
In order to confuse anyone that might
follow us we raised the flag of the United