State Man Protests Jailing by Indonesians

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The following is taken from the Eau Claire Leader, November 12, 1958 article about Utopia and crew being jailed in Indonesia.

State Man Protests Jailing by Indonesians

Eau Claire Leader, November 12, 1958. Title, State Man Protests Jailing by Indonesians.
Singapore, Associated Press.

American shipbuilder Fred Peterson said Tuesday night Indonesian authorities in Den Pasar, Bai, threw him and his seven-member crew into jail for five days. Peterson, 64, of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, is sailing his two-masted 50-ton luxury schooner Utopia round the world to realize his lifelong dream.

He had gone to Den Pasar for fuel. After being released on November 3rd, he set sail for Singapore, "trusting through chance and to my sails".

Peterson said he would make a strong protest to the U.S. Consul General in Singapore, Avery F. Peterson, at the treatment he received at the hands of the Indonesians. "I wanted to make a protest to the American authorities at Jakarta, or Surabaya, but the Indonesians forbade me to go there", he said. Peterson said he and one of his crew, Ian Davidson, 22, an Australian, spent their birthdays on a bug-infested wooden bend in an Indonesian jail.

"We sure are glad to see Singapore. We ran out of everything, fuel, water, and food", he said. Peterson said that after he left for Singapore, an Indonesian gunboat came so close alongside, it rammed and smashed the yacht's dinghy. The Utopia was also chased by another Indonesian gunboat, he said.

He left Sturgeon Bay in November of 1956 and traveled to the Caribbean, Panama Canal, South Sea Islands, and Indonesia. He plans to leave the yacht at Penang soon to fly home for Christmas.

He will rejoin it next year for the rest of the voyage through Europe, getting home in June 1960. One woman is in his crew. She is Mildred Dickerman, 29 year old Doctor of anthropology from Los Altos, California, who is the ship's cook. She was jailed too.

Eau Claire Leader, November 12, 1958 Utopia Jailed