Boats

Ships headed to Canada took several routes, including though the Caledonian Canal in Scotland with stops in Spain and the Madeira islands. This map shows the approximate route of the SS Walnut, which stopped in Ireland.

JOURNEYS TO CANADA

After World War II, in response to growing fears that Baltic refugees in Sweden might be extradited to the Soviet Union, Estonians and Latvians secretly formed what researcher Juta Kõvamees Kitching has named the “silent shipping companies.” Refugees pooled their savings, bought old boats, found captains, and quietly set about preparing to escape. The popular press called them Viking ships, but many of the boats in fact followed the route of Christopher Columbus, using the trade winds to cross the vast Atlantic to North America.

Eleven Viking ships arrived on Canada’s eastern shore between 1948 and 1950. The passengers on the Edith landed in the United States but were denied entry, and the Canadian Lutheran Church eventually sponsored them to come to Canada. The dangerously unseaworthy Victory only made it as far as Ireland but most of its passengers later found ways to immigrate to Canada.

The ships ranged in size from fishing boats to minesweepers. When the first four arrived unannounced in August 1948, newspapers heralded their arrivals with dramatic headlines like, “Perilous ocean trip to escape Reds.” Canadian officials treated the passengers as political refugees, waiving immigration restrictions and quickly granting them landed immigrant visas.

The Canadian government then issued notices that future refugees would not be admitted without proper visas. But some officials were sympathetic and Hugh Keenleyside, deputy minister of Mines and Resources, visited Stockholm and met with Estonian representatives. In September 1948, the Canadian government accepted his recommendation to admit 5,000 Estonian refugees. However, income requirements and Sweden’s reluctance to anger the Soviets by openly supporting immigration of the Baltic refugees caused delays, prompting some to take matters into their own hands. 

In December 1948, the Walnut sailed to Canada with 347 passengers on board. When Canadian officials knew the boat was on its way, they made arrangements to intern and process the refugees, and nearly all were eventually granted permission to stay. 

Arrivals on the later Viking boats encountered stiffer receptions but most were admitted to Canada. By 1950, changes in immigration policy made it possible for qualified Baltic refugees to enter legally, ending the unsanctioned voyages.

Between 1947 and 1953, 9,159 Estonians resettled in Canada, mostly from Sweden and Germany. They represented just 5.5 percent of the total number of immigrants to Canada during that period. About 1,170 of the refugees arrived in Canada on board the Viking boats, and another 452 people landed in the United States and Ireland but settled in Canada. 

S.S. Walnut carried the largest number of passengers–347–on the refugee boats that left Sweden for Canada.

Boat  / Date of arrival / Passengers / Destination

  1. Astrid August 14, 1948           29     Quebec
  2. Atlanta August 19, 1948        42 Saint John
  3. Capry August 20, 1948          28      Halifax
  4. Östervåg August 22, 1948      75       Halifax
  5. S.S. Walnut Dec. 13, 1948     347       Halifax
  6. W.E. Gladstone July 16, 1949  23       Halifax
  7. Brilliant July 16-23,1949        60       Halifax
  8. Pärnu August 2, 1949           154      Halifax
  9. Sarabande August 19, 1949  258      Halifax
  10. Amanda August 23, 1949       31      Halifax 
  11. Göran August 12, 1950          123      Quebec


TOTAL 1,170 passengers

Sources: Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21; Eestlased Kanadas, Canadian Estonian Historical Commission (1975); The Political Refugees: A History of the Estonians in Canada by Karl Aun (1985)