Saam Island or (Estonian: Saaremaa) is the largest island belonging to Estonia and the third largest island in the Baltic Sea. This is a text that describes the adventures at sea of fishermen who were imprisoned in Gotland. Here is the translation in modern Latvian:
From the land of Samsala
Last year, on October 16, almost all Sviki fishermen from the northern end of Samsala went out to sea for salmon fishing in the evening and left laughing. Suddenly, a great storm arose with a snowstorm at sea, which drove the boats far out to sea during the night. This is where it started! The fishermen had neither food nor a change of clothes. One boat turned back, but 4 fishermen were frozen, only one escaped alive. It was also reported from the coast of Kurzeme that one boat with a frozen fisherman was found there, 14 fishermen are still missing, of whom there was no news or news for a long time, and therefore they thought that all of them had died.
The fishermen relied on the will of the god
But God had saved them, on that Saturday before the second Advent, Sviķi fishermen from Memelzeme saw those fishermen swimming and saved their friends. Listening to these words: The night fell further, became fiercer, we wanted to mend our boats, hide our nets and our faces, but one of us always had to exhaust the water, the rest of us could no longer work either, but only sighed and prayed to God.
Fishermen in the Baltic Sea are getting lucky
We finally saw one ship, but it passed us, maybe it didn't see us. We had been on the sea all day, finally we saw three big ships. We held the bag with the oar up so that we could be seen. Those three ships finally received us. The sailors who saved us were English. They immediately gave us food and drink.
The island of Gotland gives shelter to lost fishermen
This misfortune happened between Kurzeme and that Swedish island called Gotland, for the captain of our ship could see both shores with his glasses. The sea became calm and after some time all three ships arrived at the coast of Denmark near the city of Helsingør. Fortunately, there was a fisherman here who understood the Estonian language, and so we could tell everything we needed in that distant foreign land.
At first, prison, but after five days already at home
These 7 fishermen were initially kept as beggars in the city of Copenhagen and put in prison, but after 5 days they were released again and sent to Liepāja by ship. They returned here, the second day after their return home, when I went to tell God of my Church on Sunday. What they, what the whole congregation thought in their hearts, let everyone who reads it say the heart itself.
Latvian Newspapers, No. 26 (29.06.1822)
