to view newspaper cuttings of the day, click here
Almost 77 years ago, Oskar Speck, a 25-year old German, starving and out of work, decided to leave Germany. He had heard there might be work in the copper mines in Cyprus. He had just enough money to equip his tiny "Faltboot" (folding boat) which he took to Ulm by train where, beside the Danube, he put the frame together, pulled the rubber-and-canvas skin over it, loaded up, and, without any fuss or farewell from anyone, set off to paddle down the river in the direction of the Mediterranean Sea.
Seven years and four months later, on the 20th of September 1939, he coaxed his kayak through the surf and on to the beach at Saibai, an island 60 or 70 miles north from Thursday Island. It was two weeks after the start of World War II - but Oskar didn't know about that. At his bow, often smothered in the flying surf, fluttered the tiny Swastika which he had brought from Germany with him. Three Australian police were waiting for him to berth his kayak. If this was the German invasion, these cops could handle it. “Well done, feller!” they said, shaking his hand warmly. “You’ve made it—Germany to Australia in THAT. But now we’ve got a piece of bad news for you. You are an enemy alien. We are going to intern you.”
I was again reminded of this incredible story when I received this email:
"Hallo, I have just discovered your piece on Oskar Speck on your webpage www.riverbendnelligen.com/dearall27.html. Thank you for the information. I was, a couple of years ago, in correspondence with the Australian Maritime Museum and passed on to them some information that I had managed to find from German sources. I live in Germany, although a Brit, and run the journal for the Historic Canoe and Kayak Association. To this end, I seek your permission to use the material on Oskar in our journal - we are non-profit making. Thank you again for putting together so much on Oskar's travels and life. Kind regards, Tony"
Of course, I gave him permission to copy whatever he liked as Oskar's feat of endurance is hardly known and needs to be told to a wider audience.
