VOYAGE FROM SWEDEN
SYDNEY BUTCHER’S WAGER
25FT. CUTTER ARRIVES SAFELY STRUCK ROCK, BUT WASHED OFF SYDNEY, 12th June. A voyage from -Sweden to Australia in a 25ft. cutter, for a wager of £4OO, was completed this week by a Sydney butcher, who arrived in Lake Macquarie, New South Wales. The butcher, George Benson, who lives in Bexley, Sydney, went to Sweden for a holiday some months ago. Before he went he was commissioned by his sons to bring back a boat suitable for week-end cruising on tbbe Australian coast. He purchased at Gothenburg a 25ft. cutter, the Gullmarn, which is of the “Kosterboal” type and lias an auxiliary engine of 15 li.p. During a conversation with friends in Gothenburg lie made a wager to sail the small craft back to Australia. He engaged Captain Anders Joliaiinscu as master and a crew of four Swedish fish-, ermeii, who, finding operations slack in their waters, decided to liy* their luck in Australia.
■ Soon after sailing from Sweden, their troubles started, lor they struck, and luckily weathered, the fierce storm off the coast of France in which 410 French fishermen lost their lives. They called at Brixham, England, where Mr Bensou injured bis band, necessitating a nine-day stay in hospital. The next ports were Lisbon and Madeira, and then they set sail across the Atlantic, through (lie Panama Canal, to the Marquesas and to New Hebrides. There they rested for a time and took in sufficient provisions to bring them to Sydney. They struck the Australian coast, literally, 300 miles north of Port Macquarie, for in hugging the shore, the Gullmarn ran on a rock, but she was washed off by the next wave. Later they struck a severe gale and entered Lake Macquarie, mistaking it for Newcastje. Their voyage from the New Hebrides occupied 29 days.
Benson says lie is "not cut out to be a sailor,” but be still wants more of the sea, for lie plans a trip to Japan in bis new craft. For the time being, the Gullmarn is remaining at Lake Macquarie.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NEM19310620.2.77
Bibliographic details
Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 20 June 1931, Page 7
Word Count
345VOYAGE FROM SWEDEN Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 20 June 1931, Page 7
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