After years of supporting Estonia through his shipping and publishing businesses, Evald died in 1973. Estonia seemed a distant part of the family’s history at that time. All this was to change dramatically in 1991 when Estonia regained its independence and with it, the new Government’s policy of returning properties to their original owners.
With The Estonian Sea Captain, I embarked on a new and challenging voyage of discovery of two families and a country.
Peter Jakobson
About Peter Jakobson
I was born in 1941 and grew up in Surrey, England, where my childhood straddled two cultures. My brothers, cousin, and I were brought up as 1950s middle class English schoolboys by our Estonian parents, Evald and Asta, who believed this was the best for our futures. At home, they spoke Estonian to each other, but not to us boys.
After attending boarding school, I studied French and German at Oxford University. Languages led me into a lifelong career of sales and marketing of wines and spirits, travelling worldwide but primarily in Europe – including selling vodka in the Baltic, my first link with Evald's shipping world.
In the tradition of my father and Estonian sea-farers, I speak several languages, including passable Estonian. I have lived in England, France, and Belgium, where I retired in 2018.
