Page 14 - SNT_24

land in Vättern. The rig made quite a stir After a couple of years aboard the ship I
EN HISTORIA OM MIN NIMBUS on the island! I was invited for coffee at was promoted to Chief Purser, a role
a farm, and they wanted me to come
that helped me build some important
back in the winter for the “Klubba Lake”.
relationships. In my job as Chief Purser
A NIMBUS For the uninitiated, this is a strange and I dealt a lot with Customs officers and
very active form of ice fishing on one of
Immigration officers on both sides of
Sweden’s largest lakes. Apparently, you Bay of Fundy and knew them well. I even
STORY cent, then you move slowly and quietly with the favorites of these officers, who
wait until the ice is clear and translu-
had a special refrigerator in my office
over the ice, stalking your prey. The fish,
spent a considerable amount of time in
otherwise known as “lake”, oftentimes
business, mind
my office—on
sit right at the margin between the bot-
you!
you see your quarry, you hammer the
By Kjell Truedsson, photo tom of the ice sheet and the water. Once The company I worked for had a Norwe-
Miles Mushlin and KT ice with as much strength as you can gian ship, but decided that a newly
muster using a large wooden club, chartered German ship would be better
which hopefully stuns the “lake”. As the suited for its purposes. This new ship,
Author’s note: I’m going to write this in fish goes belly up, you quickly cut a hole the was being outfitted in
English for two reasons Bremerhaven. I sailed with
one, I don’t have a typewrit- our old ship back to Germa-
er with a Swedish keyboard, ny, met my brother, and
and two, I have lived in the took the rig down to
US since 1969 and as a con- Bremerhaven as we were
sequence my thought pro- ready to set sail. There
cesses have become ‘Ameri- was a ferry, and could
canized’ and my typing take 250 American sized
skills have now skewed de- cars and 13 tour buses
cidedly English…well, across the Bay of Fundy. I
enough said about that…. drove the Nimbus right
aboard the car deck, and
In 1963 I bought my 1952 were on our way Transat-
Nimbus, together with a lantic to Portland Maine,
Steib Sport S 500 sidecar with the Nimbus securely
that was attached to the tied down.
bike. I bought it from a
friend, Thomas, who had a I had no paperwork whatso-
MC shop on Polistorget in ever on the Nimbus, so
Malmö. Thomas had it on a when we came to Portland I
concessionary sale for a did not put the bike on the
Danish chap, who thought manifest. Instead of declar-
the machine had been mi- ing the bike, I waited until
litary surplus, which was the customs officials de-
probably correct, as various scended on my office in the
parts of the bike seems to be evening, and after a few
“picked” from different ma- belts I told them that I had a
chines. I paid SEK 2,000 for motorcycle with a side car
it, which at that time quite a on the car deck, that I had
lot of money (but not a bad brought over from Sweden.
deal in retrospect, as I re- I asked them what should I
fused an offer of SEK 10,000 do to get it landed safely on
only a month later!). shore. The customs chief
asked, “Does it run?” I re-
The Nimbus was my only means of through the ice to get it out before it re- sponded that it did. “Then drive it home”
transportation for several years. I covers. Perhaps they were pulling my he said. I drove it off the ship and to my
worked in restaurants around Stortor- leg about this ritual, but regretfully I home in Portland around ten that eve-
get in Malmö and I could leave the bike was unable to take my host up on the in- ning. My Nimbus had arrived on ground
unlocked, sitting in a parking lot, with- vitation and find out. in the U.S.!
out any incidents while I was at work. I In late 1969 I got an offer to go back to
normally came out after work around 2 sea, with a Swedish company that was I went back to the high seas aboard pas-
AM, kicked it and drove home…I guess opening a ferry line between Portland, senger ships several years later and
times have changed! Maine, in the US, and Yarmouth, Nova stored the Nimbus in my friend Lars’
Scotia, in Canada. I stored the bike with barn in Norway, Maine. Many years
If memory serves me, I toured Sweden my brother. went by and in 1996 I bought a motel in
with the machine in the summer of * Williamstown, Massachusetts. I finally
1968, including a side trip to Visings is- went, together with my youngest son

14