CAPRY

The Capry was the smallest of the Viking boats to reach Canada in 1948. Twenty-eight people, mostly Latvians but also Estonians, sailed on the 55-foot-long (17 meters) former British coastal military boat. There were 16 men, nine women, and three babies on board. Captain M. Drezins commanded the ship and his first mate was A. Vasarins, a veteran mariner.

“We lost everything in two wars–first to the Russians, then to the Germans,” Captain Drezins was quoted as saying in Montreal’s Gazette on August 21, 1948. “Now again it is the Russians. We feel there will be some more trouble…Sweden is nice–but we couldn’t feel safe there.” 

According to an interview by Latvian passenger Ernests Kraulis to the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax, the Capry had sunk but it was raised and refurbished. The steel-hulled boat was fitted with a 50-HP diesel engine, far too small for a transatlantic voyage. It also had a mast and sails, but Mr. Kraulis said these were not used during the journey. 

The Capry left Göteborg, Sweden, at 9 a.m. on July 6, 1948. On July 15, after three days and two nights of stormy weather, the boat reached Falmouth, England, docking next to some Middle Eastern tankers. The captain of one of the ships gave the refugees as much diesel fuel as the Capry could carry. On July 21, the boat set course for Flores island in the Azores, arriving in Santa Cruz das Flores on August 3. After two days, the Capry continued its journey to Canada. It caught gale winds off Sable Island in Nova Scotia but finally docked in Halifax on August 20, after 46 days at sea. 

The boat was severely damaged when it arrived in Canada. There were no food supplies left and just one barrel of fuel oil remained. Despite the difficult circumstances, the Halifax Herald reported, “a smiling, hardy group of Estonians and Latvians landed…after completing a six-week voyage in a 44-ton, 55-foot schooner from Sweden.”