The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2005, Qupperneq 21

Vol. 59 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
147
cuss business matters.
We were offered unlimited amount of
whiskey and that got us drowsy, because
we were very tired after staying awake
standing on our feet and from the excit-
ment of the last few days. This was a pleas-
ant evening with gentle music and relax-
ation. Late in the night Johan came and told
us that the sale would not go through,
because the price offered was not high
enough. Later he regretted not having sold
the ship for the price he could get for it
there.
We stayed in Bonifacio all Thursday
and were well taken care of. Now we could
all call home and talk to our families with-
out risk of being captured. That was a great
relief. Staying in this beautiful town was
very pleasant.
By noon on Friday, 17 June we left
Bonifacio and headed for the last part of
the journey, to Toulon, France. Sailing
there doesn’t take long we got there with-
out any problems in beautiful weather. We
landed in Toulon early Saturday morning,
18 June.
At Last
Once again Johan asked us to take the
ferry further. He said that he wanted to
take it to another harbour for storage. But
now he couldn’t persuade us anymore. We
were determined that this was enough, as
we figured we had fully kept our part of the
agreement. To tell the truth we were
exhausted, both physically and mentally
after all this. At the end of the trip we had
cramps and pains in our legs from standing
on the bridge by the wheel for many hours
at a time.
Now was the time to leave. We got
everything done that was needed on board,
and then took the first train to Marseilles.
From there we took the express train to
Paris.
We arrived there on Saturday night
after a wearying train trip. We went by car
to Belgium to Johan’s home. We got a fan-
tastic welcome there and stayed there for a
few days. We were well taken care of. We
also visited friends we have in Belgium,
France and Luxemborg.
Everything has an ending, and so did
those good days. We flew home from
Luxembourg on Friday, 24 June. By then
we had been away from home for three
weeks on a journey that was supposed to
take one week. We were very happy to
meet our families and friends back home. It
was good to be with them again.
The ferry was moved from Toulon to
the harbour of Portle Cat on the south
coast of France. There it lay for two years.
Many people showed interest in buying the
ship, but it never sold. In spring of 1986,
Johan handed it over to its controller in
Portle Cat. As far as we know it was final-
ly sold as scrap iron. That surely was a sad
ending after all the trouble Johan went
through. He would have been better off
taking the low offer in Bonifacio.
When reading this story one can’t help
but wonder about a few things. For exam-
ple, why didn’t the Turkish military com-
mand in Famagusta do anything about the
ferry being taken away? Rumour said that
it had been used for smuggling and moving
military equipment between Turkey and
Cyprus.
But what are Erling, Gudjon and
Valentinus’s final words on this adventure?
Are they ready to go another one?
They don’t want to say anything about
that, but point out that when they agreed
to this assignment, it was supposed to be
one week’s cruise on the Mediterranean.
They thought the trip was going to be com-
fortable and legal in every way. This proves
that you can never tell what the next day
may bring.
(Written in May 1987)
Rev. Stefa iajoiAassoiA
ARBORG UNITARIAN CHURCH
GIMLI UNITARIAN CHURCH
9 Rowand Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3J 2N4
Telephone: (204) 889-4746
E-mail: sjonasson@uua.org