Voyager Arrives In Cyprus

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31378, 25 May 1967, Page 5

Voyager Arrives In Cyprus

Peter Klokker, the Dane, who slipped quietly to sea from the Estuary in June, 1962, bound for an unknown destination, in a boat he had built himself, has arrived in Cyprus, according to an A. AJ* Reuter message.

Mr Klokker, a carpenter, of Kerteminde, built his 24ft gaff-rigged sloop at Redcliffs to a Danish design.

The message from Nicosia said Mr Klokker had arrived in Famagusta, East Cyprus, on May 21 in his boat Tiki,

bound for Denmark after a voyage which had taken him to Australia, Indonesia, the Seychelles and Aden. Also on board as he sailed Into Famagusta harbour was the body of an elderly Cypriot fisherman he had picked up off the Cyprus coast. The

man's empty fishing boat was found adrift several days ago.

Mr Klokker interrupts his journey home to find work whenever he needs money. The most strenuous stage of the journey was his crossing of the stormy Indian Ocean from Java to the Seychelles, which took 64 days. During fierce monsoons he was able to use only a small storm jib. In the middle of the Indian Ocean he developed pneumonia and a high fever. He cured himself with penicillin given by a passing vessel. When Mr Klokker left the Estuary in 1962 he had a taxation clearance but the boat had not been inspected for seaworthiness and he had no customs clearance. Some who saw him leave thought he had gone off on a shake-

down cruise round Banks Peninsula.

The boat itself had been in trouble previously. The previous Easter it had broken adrift at Redcliffs and ended up undamaged on the New Brighton side of the spit. In July, 1964, Mr Klokker, who had put into Whangarei, quietly left that port after having refused to have his boat inspected. He said that as he was a Danish citizen, New Zealand law governing yachts which intended to to travel out to sea for 50 miles did not apply to him. He again refused to allow the boat to be inspected. However, during his stay in Whangarei a diesel motor which gave the yacht a range of 600 miles was fitted. Nine days after leaving

Whangarei, Mr Klokker was still on the New Zealand coast, sheltering from a storm at Whangaroa, but he left that anchorage only to return two days later with a faulty chronometer.

After again refusing to allow an inspection of his boat, he left again on August 24 and on October 1 was reported to have arrived in Brisbane.

Mr Klokker, after training as a carpenter, worked on seal chasers in the Arctic and cod fishing round the coast of Greenland. He came to New Zealand hoping to be selected as a member of the transAntarctic Expedition but was unsuccessful because of his nationality. He did, however, make some sleds used on the expedition. He lived in the South Island for seven years.