The yacht Antica, which set sail June 10 on its latest long voyage, continues to "Follow in the Footsteps of Poles Around the Atlantic." The yacht left its berth in the Gdańsk marina, directly opposite the historic crane in Gdańsk, for a journey of more than a year.

Jerzy Wąsowicz (pictured below), Antica owner and captain, has devoted this voyage to Poles who have sailed the northern Atlantic or have played a historically important role along the ocean's coast. The expedition is divided into four phases, each of which has a patron. Stefan Szolc-Rogoziński, an outstanding Polish traveler and explorer, is the patron of the present phase that started over two months ago.

In 1882-1883, Szolc-Rogoziński made a trip to Cameroon in a sailboat called Łucja Małgorzata. The boat started from Havre in France Dec. 13, 1882. The outcome of Szolc-Rogoziński's expedition included quite a few geographical discoveries, a number of high-quality maps of the then-unexplored Cameroon and an extremely valuable ethnographic collection, which was an enormous contribution to the foundation of the Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw.

From Havre, the Łucja Małgorzata sailed to Funchal on Madeira, where Szolc-Rogoziński met another famous Pole, Benedykt Tyszkiewicz. At his own expense, Tyszkiewicz had built a ship weighing 320 tonnes in Havre and made a trip around the world in the vessel. Afterwards he settled with his family in the port of Funchal, where he started his own marina.

The next destinations for the Łucja Małgorzata were the Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands. Sailing along the coast of Liberia, in early April 1883 the ship moored in the Santa Isabel harbor on the Fernando Po island.

The expedition's scientific station was set up on the tiny island of Mondolech in Ambos Bay. The expedition stayed in Africa for three years. Its participants explored the coast of Cameroon, the Mungo River estuary and discovered Lake M'bu. In the meantime, one of its crew, Klemens Tomczek, died of Yellow Fever. His legacy was a dictionary of the Krumen language, seven volumes of ethnographic and geographical notes, dissertations and maps. In December 1884, Szolc-Rogoziński and Leopold Janikowski ascended the highest peak of Cameroon, Mt. Fako (4,070 m).

The Antica is following the sea route of the Łucja Małgorzata, but reports from the yacht are very concise. Captain Wąsowicz is a man of few words. While sailing, the captain is in his element. It took strong winds and high daily mileage in the Bay of Biscay before the Antica's captain made his first remark: "That was the first nice part of the trip."

After leaving the port in Havre at the end of June, the yacht has visited Cherbourg, Lisbon, Cadiz and Las Palmas and Los Cristianos on the Canary Islands. Weather conditions and a headwind in particular, made a visit to the Funchal port in Madeira impossible.

The Antica is now traveling through the rest of the archipelago of the Canaries and is getting ready to set out into the open ocean. Minor repairs, sail patching and boatswain work are everyday activities for the crew during their time among the Spanish islands. Departure from Los Cristianos towards the Cape Verde Islands is planned for Sunday Sept. 14. Navigation of the ocean will begin with visits in consecutive ports where the Łucja Małgorzata moored over a century ago. After the Cape Verde Islands, the Antica will head towards the African coast. The yacht will then sail along the coast of Liberia to the Gulf of Guinea and Cameroon. It is hard to tell what this part of the voyage will look like, since sailing in these waters is not only a question of the weather, but a result of regional events. Whether we visit Monrovia in Liberia, harbor in ports of the Gulf of Guinea or stay longer in Cameroon's Douala depends not only on favorable winds and the state of the sea, but also the current political and military situation in this part of the globe.

It is hard to say where the next report from the voyage Following in the Footsteps of Poles Around the Atlantic will come from. The yacht Antica, its captain and five-person crew are face to face with an adventure with the great unknown.