The seasoned and now-retired Captain Stathis Avgerinos, who grew up on Meganisi, Lefkada, speaks on “Fair Winds and Following Seas” and Voice of Greece.
“From a very young age I was always in my grandfather’s little boat, the Ai Nikola, and I learned early on the secrets of the sea and seamanship. Later, on my father’s larger fishing boat — his trawler, the Agios Nikolaos, with an 18-man crew. My greatest joy was to travel with them and help out. I finished secondary school on Ithaki, while my mother had already made sure to get me my seafarer’s book,” he tells us in his own distinctive way.
He first sailed on large ships in 1962. “Four others and I took the train to Trieste. My first embarkation was on the M/V PANAGIA TINOU — a Liberty-type vessel belonging to the company of Antonis and Giorgos Tsakalotos. Our first voyage was Trieste–Boston, and after Gibraltar we were battered endlessly by the heavy seas.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
Produced and presented by Antonis Karagiannakis