Vasilis Kratsas from the village of Xylosyrtis in Ikaria spoke to the program “Fair Winds and Following Seas” and Voice of Greece.
“My childhood years were difficult,” he begins, “and that’s what led me to the sea.”
“I graduated from the Hephaestus School of Marine Engineering and signed on for my first voyage on August 23, 1967, aboard the M/V NORTH EMPEROR, owned by the shipowner Antonis Papadakis from Kasos. I traveled by train to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and from there we set course for New Orleans. That voyage lasted 20 months. I’ve done 16, 18, 19—even 20-month stints at sea.”
He fondly recalls: “We used to listen to Voice of Greece all the time. I had bought a world-band radio, and we’d tune in to many broadcasts from back home. It meant the world to us—such a vital connection and comforting companion on those long, distant journeys.”
Produced and presented by Antonis Karagiannakis