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1925, when my dad was 18 years old, he decided to become a sailor and try to make a
career at sea. To enter the navigation school he needed a lot of practice from ships at sea and of that
at least 1 year from a sailing ship.
Therefore, he sent a letter of application, asking for an apprentice position, to the Pollux shipping
company which owned the training ship Beatrice.
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After some initial correspondence asking for a doctor's certificate he got this card, dated and
postmarked 20 August 1925 and ordering him to be present at the Beatrice 3 days later.
He had to promptly take the next train to Sundsvall.
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On August 22 he signed on the Beatrice.
Here, she is laying at the Skönvik sawmill outside the town of
Sundsvall in September 1925.
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On the Beatrice, September 1925. Arne is standing furthest to the left at the very bottom of the picture.
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The ship sailed from Sundsvall via Gothenburg to Melbourne in Australia
where it arrived 94 days1) after the departure from Gothenburg.
After unloading they took in a cargo of grain (wheat) and other farming products1).
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"The boat seen from the forecastle. The guy is Stig Staffg.rg, Gothenburger, and very likely me at the helm."
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The Beatrice off the coast of Australia.
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On the journey back from Australia, the ship passed Cape Horn on 9 May 1926 and the Falkland islands on 11 May2
After 116 days1) the ship arrived in London, though the whole journey from Sundsvall to
Australia and back to Gothenburg took a year.
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Calm weather and inactive sailors who have caught an albatross for fun. When the poor bird should
be released it took the chance to give one of the men a deep cut into his arm.
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Trying to catch a fish and got a pregnant shark...
Dad said they caught a big
shark with small sharks in its belly. One of the men had the new-born small sharks swimming
in a barrel on the deck for some days.
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Taking (measuring) the height of the sun with a sextant.
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s/v "Beatrice", Gothenburg, ex the English passenger vessel "Routenburn", built 1882.
First Swedish name "Svithiod". Broken up in Norway in 1932.
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Jan Davidsson: Beatrice. Världens sista stora järnseglare, ex Routenburn, ex Svithiod. 1881-1932.
Forum. ISBN 91-37-06283-2.
Some data above (marked with 1 ) is taken from this book.
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The steering wheel with the steering gear machine and a part of the main mast from the Beatrice
can be seen at the maritime museum in Stockholm.
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2 Private communication with Fredrik Welander, Gothenburg, based on notes in a diary.
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More reading about sailing ships and the grain race from Australia
The story about the last journey with the Moshulu in 1938/39:
Eric Newby: The last grain race.
Eric Newby: Grain Race. Pictures of Life before the mast in a Windjammer.
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