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On the world's oceans for five years
On the world's oceans for five years

On the world's oceans for five years

Publisher
Subject or historical figure (1907 - 1993)
Date1937
Object numberANMS1249[034]
NameNewspaper clipping
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 170 x 125 mm
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from John Ferguson
DescriptionNewspaper clipping from German newspaper, Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung relating to Oskar Speck. Includes text and two images of Oskar Speck, one at sea in his kayak and a portrait. HistoryThe article reads 'On the world’s oceans for five years The German engineer Oskar Speck (left) started a journey in a folding boat on the Danube all the way to Australia five years ago. Now, almost forgotten, he has arrived on Java in his fragile craft. Associated press German engineer Oskar Walter Speck’s plan to paddle and sail in his folding boat down the Danube, across the Black Sea, through the Dardanelles and the Mediterranean to Australia seemed totally unachievable. This venture was initially considered the product of an adventurer’s wild imagination. But now, five years later, when he was almost believed lost at sea, there are news and pictures from the islands of Sumatra and Java, where he has arrived in good health and since departed to continue his daring journey to Australia. SignificanceThe remarkable story of Oskar Speck is one of extraordinary endurance. He undertook an epic seven-year, 50,000 km voyage from Germany to Australia in the 1930s in a five-and-half metre collapsible kayak SUNNSCHIEN. It is also a story of the hostilities of WWII and of those who made Australia their new home.