Erma

On December 15, 1945, the Erma emerged from the icy North Atlantic in a snowstorm and approached the Naval Amphibious Base in Little Creek, Virginia. Crammed on board the 37-foot (11.2 meters) sloop were 16 Estonians: seven men, five women, and four young girls. The group had left Smedslatten, Sweden, on August 9, 1945, for what they called a short “coastal cruise”—to avoid scrutiny from Soviet spies. The “cruise” ended after a 128-day, 8,247-mile (13,272 kilometer) daring voyage across the ocean to America.

The Erma’s passengers mostly came from well-respected Estonian maritime families who had fled to Sweden during World War II. They knew if Sweden buckled under Soviet pressure to send them back to Estonia they would be shot, imprisoned, or deported to Siberia. 

Captain Harri Paalberg’s family was in particular danger because his father, Captain Rudolph Paalberg, had been at sea on the a/l Signe when the Soviets invaded Estonia in 1940. Estonian captains were ordered to turn in their ships to the communist authorities, but Paalberg instead sailed his boat to New York. When Soviet officials came on board to demand the boat, Paalberg grabbed one of the men and threw him overboard. He stayed in America and placed the Signe at the disposal of the U.S. Maritime Administration until the war ended.