Boats

Stockholms-Tidningen Eestlastele reporting on the Eeva and mentioning passengers on the missing Billy, January 9, 1949 

billy

There are conflicting theories about the disappearance of the Billy, which planned to sail to America. Arnold Veske, a former merchant from Saaremaa, and Otto Priske organized the voyage with a group of Estonians who were mostly Baptists. The boat cost 25,000 Swedish kronor, and another 25,000 kronor was spent preparing it for the ocean journey, under the supervision of Oskar Koplimaa. The boat was supposed to leave Göteborg in late June 1948 but Swedish port authorities did not think it was seaworthy and required additional repairs. It finally departed on July 8, 1948, under Captain Vellström with 39 refugees on board, including six or seven children.

On July 13, the boat stopped in Dover, England, with torn sails and a broken mast. After repairs were made, it set off again with an extra person, passenger Rudolf Kaldma’s sister. The journey across the Bay of Biscay went smoothly and its next stop was Porto de Leixões in Portugal. Letters sent from there by passengers Juhan Takkis and his wife to relatives in Sweden were the last ones received.

After leaving Porto de Leixões on August 4, the Billy disappeared, probably sinking in a storm between Portugal and the United States. In autumn 1948, a suitcase full of clothes and a woman’s wrist watch bought in Sweden washed up in America. Swedish newspapers covered the boat’s disappearance.

There is another theory, however, that Soviet authorities “kidnapped” the boat and its passengers were deported to the Soviet Union. This is based on a story involving passenger Minni Veske, who wrote to acquaintances in Sweden that a Soviet ship had sailed near the Billy in the Skagerrak between Sweden and Norway. In another story, an unnamed refugee ship that was heading to Canada at the same time reported seeing a Soviet ship near the Billy after it left Portugal.

The Billy’s fate remains unknown. 

Known crew and passengers:

  • Captain Vellström, wife, and two children
  • Arnold and Minni (Raudsepp) Veske
  • Eduard Plato, wife, and son from Saaremaa
  • Herbert Kokk from Juminda, Harjumaa
  • Johannes Pillmann (Piilmaa), wife, and four children from Kolga
  • Georg Vaapson, 20, from Narva
  • Oskar Koplimaa from Nõva
  • Rudolf and Olly Kaldma, and Rudolf’s sister from Rannamõisa
  • Ms. Kaho from Hiiumaa
  • Otto Priske, wife, and child, 8 
  • Juhan (Johannes) Takkis and wife