Displaced Persons

[william wallace]

Remember in the late 60's sailing with several Latvians and Estonians who was classed as Displaced or Stateless Persons. They were always subject to close attention when any Immigration people came onboard at foreign ports. They never went ashore in a foreign port and only went ashore in the UK for 48 hour periods. Seemed to spend most of their time onboard and tended to stay away from the rest of the crowd. Some could not speak much English and little was know about them apart from their name.
Thinking back they were a rather isolated bunch of people who never seemed to communicate.

Does anyone know what their actual situation was at that time?

Thanks

PS One of them went mad on the Cedric. Had to be tied down in the Sick Bay for a week or so and offloaded at an unsceduled stop Freemantle

[j.sabourn]

Remember sailing with 2 or 3 Estonians in 1954, the carpenter was Estonian, and one of Latvians was christened Savvy, as always said when talking to you, You Savvy. Coming back in Cuba to ship via Taxi with the chippy, who on showing passes at the gate said something to one of the guards for which he received a rifle butt to his head through the taxi"s window. took him back to ship where we doctored him up a bit and nothing was ever said. They all signed on in Cardiff and I always thought they were permanent residents there. However any Russian ships appearing in port and you never saw any of them on deck. The same as had a Polish 2nd Engineer on board and if going to Murmansk or any other Russian port had to land him ashore usually in Norway and pick him up on the way back. As said I always thought they were domiciled in the UK. Cheers JWS

[Keith Tindell]

I also sailed with Latvians and quite a few Poles, usually heavy drinkers, but then weren't we all?. But there was always a mysterious air about them, and mainly kept to themselves and did not take many shore runs, kt

[william wallace]

Remember that if the ship was going to Russia, the Latvians and Estonians would be taken off and wait on the return of the ship. They were all based in the Cardiff area but did long trips onboard. One or two years was not unusual and they did not seem to have any close family in the UK. A bit of a mystery for a young lad of 17.

[j.sabourn]

I have a neighbour about 5 houses along the street. He was at one time Estonian I believe or if not is ex Latvian. Always wants to talk to me but he is stone deaf, his wife half his size tries to translate the conversation to us both, but she is Singapore Chinese and only makes matters worse. Have been out with them a few times usually to Chinese restaurants which his wife seems to always know the owners so she usually picks the banquet out for us. From what I can gather he got out of Latvia/Estonia in the late fourties by fishing boat. Landed in NE England and as was taken in by a family. Joined the RAF and got his wings and got up to Flight Lieutenant, then was involved in a crash and was invalided out stone deaf apart from other injuries. Came out East supposedly to join a monastery, decided to see Australia first and on the ship coming down to Sydney met his now wife and lost all ambition to live a sedentry life style. He was at one time picked for an English running team for the Olympic games, when the games were not the big business they are today and were all amateurs. Poor old bloke is near the end of his days now, but giving the chance would be up their running in the lead no doubt. Cheers JWS

[happy daze john in oz]

Sailed with one from Poland as an officers steward. Good worker but not much fun to be with.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Sailed with one from Poland as an officers steward. Good worker but not much fun to be with.

Don't suppose they had much to laugh about, lost their family, lost their homes, lost their country and could never go back, and never knowing what the world was going to throw at you next, probably dreading being in port with a Soviet ship which were full of political commissars in those days and would have no hesitation in kidnapping them and returning them to some Gulag in the Motherland on some trumped up charge, must have been one hell of a frightening existence especially have survived a war torn country and some camp in which few survived, I suppose it was inherent in them not to trust anybody and not talk to anyone if you're not sure who you are talking to, althpugh we experienced war, we were lucky compared to some

[John Arton]

On the white Beaver ships in C.P. there was a Latvian bosun who lived in London and if I recall correctly when not sailing, would be part of the shore gang standing by ships in port. We also had a Spanish bosun Pablo who had lived in London for years. Both of them must have been naturalised as I cannot recall any problems with immigration for either of them.
When I was at school, in my class one of the girls I lusted after had a Polish surname. Her father had escaped from Poland during WW2, him being a pilot in the Polish air force. He joined the RAF in its Polish squadron and fought in the Battle of Britain.
An absolutely fascinating fellow, apart from having a daughter I lusted after, in later years I got to know him quite well and he had some fascinating stories about Poland and his career in the RAF. They lived nearby and his only source of income appeared to come from fees he charged to boat owners who stored their yachts in two huge barns he owned. He also had a number of vintage cars he was restoring but as they neared completion he would lose interest in them and abandon the restoration with only things like the seats to fit having restored their bodywork and mechanical workings. He was one of those guys who if you needed a left handed widget or some other peculiar and rare item, you could always guarantee he had one somewhere in his vast bins of odd items. On one occasion I went up to see him to see if he had an item I required for a job I was doing and found him fitting pannier's to a Russian motorcycle and sidecar combination. Asking him what he was doing with such a piece of gear he told me he and his wife were going on a continental touring holiday in it. His wife thought they were going to the South of France but he said he was going back to Poland (he had not told her of his plans). At that time Poland was till behind the iron curtain so I asked him if he had got visas or permission to there and he said no but he knew ways of getting across the border without going through passport or immigration and the reason he had brought the Russian motorcycle was that in the event it broke down, parts for it should be easily available in the part of Poland he intended to visit, it being near the Russian borders.
He actually did make it into Poland and the bike did brake down but he had to cobble it together with odd bits as no spares were available where they were.
rgds
JA

[Robert T. Bush]

Met with some good displaced persons at an early age, while at presea school at Southampton there were Polish boys, many Belgians, and one Greek, a shipowner's son. Our seamanship instructor was Bosun Khulman the Dutch Bosun from the Arandora Star, a real Seaman.

Later as Master, a Chief Engineer was a big Slav who lost his parents during WW2 he had been an Engineer cadet in Yugoslavia, was interned in a UNRA camp at Rimini and picked out by a Santo Domingan naval officer to join their navy. On a voyage to Canada he deserted and made his way to the US where he was employed by National Bulk Carriers. Multi lingual, very hardworking and competent he became a friend.