ROMANCE ON FINNISH SAILING SHIP

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 148, 20 March 1934, Page 8

ROMANCE ON FINNISH SAILING SHIP

Voyage From Copenhagen to Australia TROPIC MOON, AND NOW A HONEYMOON Two young people who found romance under the tropical moon ns the four-masted Finnish barque, I’Avenir, spec! on her way from Copenhagen to Port Victoria, South Australia, are passengers aboard the Union liner Makura, en route for Tahiti to si>end the remainder of their honeymoon commenced in Australia. They are Mr. and Mrs. Olav Hultin. Mr. Hultin is tlie son of a university professor at Helsingfors. Finland, and Mrs. Hultin, formerly Miss Barbara Strachey, is a relative of the famous British essayist and biographer. Mr. Lytton Strachey. Mrs. Hultin's mother is political secretary to Lady Astor.' Mr. and Mrs. Hultin first met when the I’Avenir sailed from Copenhagen for Australia, to load a wheat cargo for European ports, on September 24 last. Both young people had grown tired of the conventions of modern life and decided that taking a passage on a sailing ship to the other side of the world might possibly give rise to a few incidents a little different from the ordinary run of things. Mrs. Hultin explained on the Makura yesterday that she had just come down from Oxford after three years' there, while her husband, who occupied a secretarial position in Helsingfors, had travelled extensively during the'past seven years, having previously made a voyage in a sailing vessel ns c member of the crew. Read Magazine Articles. She was determined to take a voyage to the southern lands after taking her degree, but an article in an English magazine by A. J. Villiers fired her with ambition to make the trip in a rather unconventional way—on a sailing ship. So she announced one day to her family that she was off to Copenhagen to join the barque I’Avenir. Little could they say to it, for she was always used to getting her own way. And so the great adventure began. When I’Aveuir.left Coitenhagen on her long non-stop voyage to southern climes, she carried aboard 42 souls all told, seven passengers and a crew of 35. drawn from almost every race of Christendom. The passengers comprised Dlr. and airs. Percy Grainger, of piano fame: .Mr. Hultin, Miss Strachey, Miss Kronig, of aianchesfer; airs. Von Andel, and ex-Flying-Officer Barrett, air. Hultin said that as soon as he saw Miss Strachey he fell violently in love with her. but she did not seem' to reciprocate until the good ship drew near the tropics, “Yes. it was the tropical moon that did it,” Mrs. Hultin interjected. _ “It was absolutely fatal and devastating. ’ air. Hultin, who as yet speaks English with a picturesque broken accent, replied that everything was due to that pale moon on those romantic nights in the tropics. Engagement Announced. As the ship bore southward through equatorial waters, the young people began to know each other better and better. until an engagement was announced on November 29, when the ship was passing Tristan de Cunha, although, Mrs. Hultin said, everybody on board knew all about it 10 days before that. As soon as the ship reached Port Victoria. Miss Strachey sent the following cablegram to her mother: “Delicious trip. Have fallen unmistakably in love. Intend marrying here immediately. No conceivable misgiving. Everything perfect.” The reply she received was worded as follows: “Don't be precipitate. How can we approve without knowing nationality, age. profession, income, plans and thousands of other items, besides charm? Would find out if possible. Marriage rather serious affair.” Mr. Hultin, too, informed his people in Finland of the events that had materialised on the voyage. His mother, he said, was a little upset, but his father was pleased.

Both young people also informed their fiancees in their home lands, and on January 16, at the little Anglican church at Port Germein, on the Spencer Gulf, the two were married w’ith as little ceremony as possible, the bridegroom wearing a pair of white flannels and open shirt. Miss Kronig, a fellowpassenger, was to have acted as bridesmaid, but was prevented from doing so by an unfortunate accident, and her place was taken by Miss “Jackie” Brock, who had made the trip on the I’Avenir as an apprentice. Mr. and Mrs. Hultin have spent some time in Melbourne and Sydney, and now they are going on to Tahiti, to enjoy some of the glamour and romance of the Pacilie Isles. Where they will go then they do not know, but they are fairly certain they will not live in Finland, where life is not as free as they would wish. Appeal of Sail. Life on board an ocean-going liner does not have the same appeal for Mr. and Mrs. Hultin as did the four months spent on the I’Avenir. Both love tlie motion of a sailing ship, and their only regret is that, the vessel did not run into what might be termed bad weather. The worst weather they experienced was when one night seven sails were split, but those were only light tropical sails. The ship was one of a number owned by tlie Ericcson Line, which had its headquarters at Mariehann in tlie Aland Islands. She had accommodation for 100 passengers, and in the summer months cruises wore Held in the Baltic to advertise tlie ships. Mrs. Hultin declared that tlie experience was “absolutely grand,” but she would not advise anyone to undertake tlie passage as a member of the crew. The work was hard and onerous. Curiously enough, the I’Avenir had numbered in her company a young Canadian girl. “Jackie” Brock, who signed on as an apprentice, and she took her share of the daily round of work, just as the other sailors did. Mr. and Mrs. Hultin are occupying themselves on the ship with writing a book of their adventures on the I’Avenir. Mr. Hullin is writing tlie technical side in Swedish, and his wife the descriptive side in English. Therefore there will need to be a translation before the manuscript can be sent to the printer. “We found enough material ou board to fill half-a-dozen books,” they declared.