24 Facts About Oskar Speck

Oskar Speck was a German canoeist who kayaked from Germany to Australia.

Oskar Speck departed from Ulm, Germany in 1932 to seek work due to being an unemployed electrical contractor in Hamburg.

Oskar Speck initially intended to kayak to Cyprus to work in the copper mines but ended up wanting to continue the journey through Southeast Asia and the Middle East to Australia.

Oskar Speck was accused of being a spy and was imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp.

Oskar Speck left Ulm in May 1932 by kayaking down the river of Danube until he entered Romania.

Oskar Speck continued to follow the river until he reached the Bulgarian border and paddled out into the Aegean Sea.

Oskar Speck had never kayaked out at sea, but nonetheless ended up paddling through high swell and large waves, even narrowly avoided a collision with a cargo ship.

Oskar Speck added sails to his kayak as well as splashguards to make the kayak more efficient as well as to keep the kayak from filling up.

Oskar Speck then travelled east to Syria to reach the Euphrates River, which he then kayaked down on through Iraq to get to the Persian Gulf.

Along the Euphrates, Oskar Speck experienced a lack of food and water, intense heat as well as regularly being shot at by the locals.

Oskar Speck did not resume his voyage until September 1934, when he continued east through the Arabian Sea.

Around this period, Nazi Germany had begun to develop, as a result, rumours of Oskar Speck being a German spy began to develop.

Oskar Speck then continued to travel along the coast of India until he reached Kolkata in January 1936.

Oskar Speck managed to escape by chewing through the ropes he was tied with before sailing away in his kayak.

Oskar Speck reached Port Moresby in August, before continuing down to the Saibai Island in the far north of Australia, in September 1939.

Oskar Speck was first sent to a prisoner-of-war camp on Thursday Island for one month.

Oskar Speck was then sent to Brisbane then to Tatura Internment camp in Victoria where he escaped the camp, but was recaptured and sent to Loveday Camp 14 in South Australia where he stayed until the end of the war.

Oskar Speck was released in January 1946 and within a week of his release he found work in an opal mine in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales.

Oskar Speck got his citizenship and settled into postwar Australia to establish a successful opal cutting and trading business.

Oskar Speck died in 1993 aged 86 years of an undisclosed illness.

Shortly after his arrival in Australia, Oskar Speck planned on publishing his photographs and write about his experiences, however he did not end up doing this.

One of Oskar Speck's double ended paddles from his voyage was presented to Carl Toovey as a trophy for the 100 mile Cruising Canoe Club's Nepean Marathon on the Hawkesbury River in 1952.

Oskar Speck started the voyage at the age of 42 and spent 5 and half years on her journey from Germany to Australia.

Unlike Oskar Speck, she did not face political issues as Australian Border Force personnel were on hand to provide customs clearance; however, she encountered crocodiles, pirates and malaria.