It was late November 1971. On board the 'Fairsky' was a family with a 14 year old girl. Their names are not known. The girl was very friendly and became attached to a German man aged around 31. He had lost most of his hair by that time. He spoke excellent English, having lived in Toronto, Canada. He had had to leave there due to being jailed for violent offences. Now he was going to try his luck in Australia. He did not admit to his past criminal offences on his immigration application.
During the voyage the young girl was lost overboard. It was thought to be a tragic accident.
The man soon took up with a woman in Australia and had two children with her by about 1975. He began to bash her and spent some time in jail for a series of horrendous assaults. During one assault he blinded her in one eye and on another occasion he caused her to miscarry and her internal organs were damaged. Eventually she had had enough and made him leave. He was then jailed for 6 months for car theft. He got access to the two boys who were terrified of him and claimed he assaulted them also. Access was eventually denied due to their terror of their father. In the 1980s he took up with another woman, not telling her his past history. Two children were born. In 1994 he was jailed for sexually assaulting these children. He also bashed his second wife continually and was arrested on many occasions for violence. During the trial the eldest child gave evidence that this man had picked up hitch hikers and had raped and assaulated them. This happened when the two children were in the car with him; he seems to have used them to lure the hitch hikers into the car.
Over the years the man talked obsessively about his 'friend' the young girl on the 'Fairsky' and how she was 'attracted' to him.
Do you know anything about the disappearance of a girl during the voyage of the 'Fairsky' in November-December 1971? If so, please email:
 catrionaballou@yahoo.com.au
or
 kz500au@hotmail.com