1. A YOUNG MAN'S DREAMS
Bronius Krikštopaitis was born on 14 December 1902 in Alantės village (in present day Panevėžys County). The worldview of the young man was only the waters of the Juoda River in Vadokliai, where Bronius attended school, or the neighbouring Lake Juodis, which broke into the horizon of Lithuania’s endless fields.
Having not fully completed the programme at Panevėžys High School, the young man surrendered the dream about sea horizons. In the autumn of 1923, he entered the Maritime Department of Kaunas Higher Technical School.
Driven by enthusiasm, quite a large group of young people gathered in it [the maritime department], though only 16 of us finally remained faithful to the sea. ... Sea captains were the lecturers, a few of whom spoke Lithuanian very poorly. We had no choice but to use maritime textbooks published in a foreign language. ... When summer holidays approached, we all went to Klaipėda for maritime practice or, as the school director, engineer Graurokas, used to say: “To get used to the sea.” (B. Krikštopaitis By Sea Routes, 1979, Chicago)
PHOTOGRAPHS:
- Bronius Krikštopaitis during his studies at the Maritime Department of Kaunas Higher Technical School, 8 March 1924.