Brilliant

The Brilliant (Briljant, Briljintin, Briljand, Briliantin) made two refugee voyages in 1948 and 1949. Maimu Reinla, who sailed on the Skagen from Sweden to Boston in 1948, explains in an excerpt from her memoir (below) why she left and how she and more than 80 refugees, mostly Latvians, boarded the 18-ton Brilliant to reach the 200-ton Skagen. The larger boat was anchored in open waters to evade the Swedish authorities who had imposed a 30-passenger limit on the fishing trawler. However, the journey on the Brilliant to connect with the Skagen took place in very bad weather and the smaller boat almost sank.

On June 9, 1949, the Brilliant departed with a new group of refugees. The Swedish police had approved passage for only 18 people, and removed about 40 refugees in Stenungsund, north of Göteborg, before the boat sailed. The captain agreed to sail north to Uddevalla, the planned departure point, but instead headed south to a small village where the 40 passengers reboarded in secret. There was no communication with the boat and on July 13, Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter reported it missing and possibly sunk. Then on July 24, Välis-Eesti announced that the Brilliant had reached Halifax, Canada, with 60 refugees on board. It is not known why the typical two-to-three week journey across the Atlantic took so long.