KARLSSON ELIS

 

Karlsson, Elis, Viktor, Mollyhawk, was born in Värdö, Åland, on 24.2.1905 and died in Zimbabwe on 8.2.1989.

He began his sea career in 1919, in the 3-masted schooner NÄSBORG.

After serving in Baltic and North Sea trade, Elis Karlsson graduated to deepsea sailing-ships.

He began as A.B. in the 4- masted barque HERZOGIN CECILIE and rounded Cape Horn in her in 1926.

He subsequently rounded Cape Horn in the 3- masted barque PENANG in 1930, 1931, and 1932 and in the HERZOGIN CECILIE in 1934, 1935, and 1936.

He thus made 7 rounding altogether, all eastwards.

Elis Karlsson obtained his Master Mariner's certificate in Mariehamn in 1933.

He served as Mate of the PENANG from 1929 to 1932 and of the HERZOGIN CECILIE from1933 to 1936, and was Chief Mate of the latter when she went aground off the coast of Devon in 1936 and became a total loss.

In 1937 he moved to Scotland, where he married and settled down.

In 1947 he moved with his family to what was then Southern Rhodesia, where he started a boatyard.

In 1964 he published his book ' Mother Sea ', giving an account of his childhood in the Åland Islands and his career in sailing-ships.

That was followed in 1966 by ' Pully - Haul ', the story of a single voyage before the mast in 1926, in the HERZOGIN CECILIE.

In 1969 he published Cruising off Mozambique.

A fourth book, Tvä skepp ( ' Two ships ' ), was written in Swedish, his native language, and appeared in 1988. Illustrated by Elis Karlsson himself, it deals with the brig ALTAJ of Värdö and the barque ALTAJ.

Built in Kimito, Finland in 1879 and owned and operated by Värdö - Islanders.