Four Sheep Folds

 

Oskar Speck was born in Hamburg in 1907. He dropped out of school at fourteen to work, but work in post-WWI Germany was hard to come by. Oskar heard rumors there were copper mining jobs in Cyprus, and he decided to head there. He didn’t have the train fare, but he had a collapsible kayak. So, in spite of the fact he couldn’t swim, Oskar paddled to Cyprus. He canoed down the Danube to the Aegean, then the Mediterranean. When he reached Cyprus, he decided to keep going. He paddled down the Euphrates, through the Persian Gulf, and along the coast of India. He traded stories for food, water and shelter. Oskar was frequently shot at, and he contracted malaria. When he reached Australia, he was sent to an internment camp as an enemy alien. After WWII, Oskar became an Australian citizen and an opal miner. He died in New South Wales at age 86.