Szukając wolności: Sprawa kapitana m/s 'Batory' Jana Ćwiklińskiego

After WWII the Polish ocean liner “Batory” operated on the route Gdynia–New York, and from 1951 to India. The captain of the ship was Jan Ćwikliński. The Ministry for Public Security accused him of having a hostile attitude towards the People’s Republic of Poland and insisted on him being removed from his position as Batory captain. In the spring of 1953 the ship underwent a technical check-up at a shipyard in Great Britain. In the mean-time it was rumoured that the captain was to be arrested upon his return to Poland on suspicion of espionage. When the renovation works were about to be completed, Ćwikliński decided to escape and left his ship for good. The captain was given political asylum in Great Britain. At the beginning of 1954 he left for the USA. He became captain of the cargo ship “Wolna Polska” [Eng. “Free Poland”] which sailed between the USA and Western Europe. His crew consisted of seamen who had also escaped from Polish ships. The project was financed by the Pulaski Transport Line – the shipping company of the Polish diaspora. Ćwikliński frequently took part in meetings with members of the Polish minority organised by the Congress of the American Polish Diaspora where he told Poles about the situation of the Polish shipping industry and the circumstances of his escape. He ended his career in 1957 and lived in New York. He never returned to Poland and died in 1976.