Stowaways Trivia Quiz

Answer: Endurance

In response to this threat, the 18-year-old stowaway replied: "They'd get a lot more meat off you, sir." In the end, it was just some toes that he lost. Welsh sailor Perce Blackborow had gone to Argentina with his friend William Lincoln Bakewell to seek work. Bakewell was taken on as an Able Seaman by Shackleton but Blackborow was considered too young and inexperienced. Discovered too far from land to be returned, he became a ship's steward and was eventually signed on.

The Endurance ended its days being crushed by pack ice in the Weddell Sea. Most of the crew stayed on the uninhabited Elephant Island whilst Shackleton led a small party in a lifeboat (the James Caird) on a perilous sea journey to South Georgia to seek help. Blackborow was one of those left at Elephant Island and had some toes amputated due to gangrene following frostbite. All the Endurance's crew survived.

Answer: Richard E. Byrd

Along with thousands of others, 17-year old Billy Gawronski was keen to sail with the Byrd Antarctic Expedition of 1928-1930. His first attempt to stowaway involve swimming from Manhattan docks to Hoboken where the City of New York was moored. After being found in the ship's hold, he tried the supply ship the Eleanor Bolling, failing again. When it set sail, he hitchhiked down to Hampton Roads, Virginia where the Eleanor Bolling went to re-fuel. He failed again. In the end perhaps it was the newspaper publicity and support from the public which helped secure his place.

Gawronski returned to New York at the start of the Great Depression. Jobless, Byrd advised Gawronski to get a college education and wrote a letter of recommendation that secured a place and a partial scholarship. Admiral Byrd followed up with a visit to the campus to give a lecture on the expedition.

Answer: Airship R34

A German Army Zeppelin LZ 76 was brought down over Essex in 1916 following a bombing raid on London. In a bit of industrial espionage, its design was used by the British as a basis for the airships R33 and R34. R34 was not completed until May 1919 and, after an endurance flight in June, it was decided to try the transatlantic flight. The bomb racks were removed and hammocks added. Crew member William Ballantyne was scheduled to stay behind in order to save weight, however he was not prepared to miss out on the flight. He decided to stowaway and bring along the crew's mascot, a tabby kitten named Whoopsie (or possibly Wopsie). He was not permitted to take the return flight, being returned by ship, and also lost flying privileges for a year.

The Curtiss seaplane was first to make crossing in May 1919, although it took 23 days with six stops. Alcock and Brown flew non-stop in the Vickers Vimy, a modified World War I twin-engine bomber, in just under 16 hours of flying during June 1919. The LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin was a German airship which offered the first commercial transatlantic passenger service, operating from 1928 to 1937.

Answer: Submarine HMS Walrus

Living in Baltimore and wanting to visit the UK where her father was stationed with the USAF, 17-year old Barbara McVay chose to stowaway on HMS Walrus which was docked in Baltimore on a goodwill visit. She managed to hide in a compartment in the conning tower the night before the Walrus was due to sail. After four hours at sea and groggy from carbon monoxide poisoning she made her presence known. Fortunately the submarine had been travelling on the surface as she would otherwise have drowned. The Walrus turned around to drop her off.

In the 20th century, most transatlantic passengers crossed by ocean liner until 1958 when flying took over. She would not have flown by Concorde as these aircraft were only operated between 1969 and 2003. The Caledonien ocean liner was still operating in 1966 but plied its trade between France and Australia via French overseas territories. The heyday of airship travel was during the 1930s. The Skyship 500 was a British airship built in the 1980s and probably best known for its role in the 'James Bond' film "A View to a Kill" (1985).

Answer: Reciting poetry

Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, George Parrott had been drifting for a while when he stowed away on the Minnesota which was sailing from Yokohama (Japan) to Seattle (USA). Discovered one day out, by speaking in verse he charmed his way to get taken to the galley for some food before a passing ship's officer put him in the brig.

He appealed with a written poem for clemency to Captain Garlic who, after listening to his spontaneous poetry given in response to questioning, presented Parrott to several passengers This resulted in a benefit performance being held which earned Parrott enough to pay his passage through to New York where (a passenger assured him) a suitable position would be found for a man of his talents.

Answer: He applied for a job with Immigration

Speaking six languages, having polished manners and being well-versed in European politics allowed Joseph Gronberger to mix effortlessly with the ship's elite passengers without ticket, money or luggage. He managed to avoid detection, even making friends with ship officers, whilst enjoying the benefits of first-class travel.

After having been in New York for a few days, he decided to apply for the job of interpreter with the Immigration station on Ellis Island. Since he was not on a passenger list, his stowaway story soon came out. He was also recognised as having been caught as a stowaway some six months earlier, albeit in steerage class. It is not clear whether or not his job application was successful.

Answer: 25

According to one source, the Federal Aviation Administration recorded a 76 percent fatality rate on flights involving the US between 1947 and 2015. Or to put it another way, 24 percent of wheel-well stowaways survived in a sample of 113 attempts. The true number of stowaways will be significantly higher.

All phases of the flight present risk including take-off and landing. These risks include physical injury, hypothermia (temperatures can drop as low as -63 deg C (81 deg F)) and hypoxia as well as hearing damage and decompression sickness (where altitudes exceed 6000 m (20,000 ft)).

Bas Wie was a 12-year old who survived the Japanese occupation of Timor and was working in Kupang airport kitchen when he decided that Australia offered better prospects. He was found unconscious after his three-hour flight with various injuries. He spent three months in Darwin hospital and, with the government's "white Australia" policy of the time, was destined to be returned to Timor before public pressure led to a change of heart. He became a naturalised Australian after 10 years, married, had 5 children and lived for 70 years in Australia.

Answer: He built a secret cabin

An Italian interior decorator, Vincent Basti was a supervisor during the construction of the ship. He secretly built a small cabin complete with sliding panel next to the first-class dining area. Needless to say, the cabin was not marked on the plans.

He was in the cabin with a small cot, electric reading lamp and some supplies when the ship set out on its maiden voyage. His watch had stopped two hours before he emerged and so he got his timing wrong, resulting in a return trip to Italy working his passage as a deckhand.

Answer: To meet Mr T

The attraction was American actor Laurence Tureaud, known professionally as Mr T, who portrayed the character B. A. Baracus in the TV series "The A-Team" (1983-1987). With an admonishment from Keith's mother: "Don't go far, your dinner's nearly ready", the boys hitched or stowed away on a series of transport forms - DART, boat, train and airplane - to end up at JFK airport in New York.

They were caught when they asked a policeman for directions into town.

Answer: To be home for his daughter's birthday

A javelin thrower, Reg Spiers had come to the UK to recover from an injury so he could compete in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. It became obvious that he would not recover in time so took an airport job to earn some cash for the flight home. His wallet containing his savings was stolen so he hatched the plan to crate himself. He was working in the export cargo section so knew the dimension constraints and that cash-on-delivery was a payment option. He got a friend to make a box designed so he could release himself from inside.

He endured a 24-hour delay due to fog in London and accidentally left a can of urine on top of the crate when arriving in Paris. The French baggage handlers cursed a lot, thinking it was a bad joke from their London counterparts. He spent four hours upside down baking in the Bombay sun before finally touching down in Perth, Australia. The Aussie accents told him he had arrived and he waited until he was in the bond shed before extracting himself. He cut a hole in the wall to get out, changed into a suit and hitched a ride into town. He made it home in time for his daughter's birthday.

The story only came out because his friend in London was getting worried when he had not heard from Spiers. So to try and find out, the friend contacted the press which then created a media frenzy. In the end the airline waived the airfreight charges, which would have been more than the cost of a passenger seat.