Success and adversity

“Roburs” time under Sven Salén’s ownership is short. After a shipping accident he sells the vessel in 1916. In total, Sven Salén owns two fully rigged ships during the 1910s, “Transocean” and “Eros” that is purchased in 1920, plus a number of small sailing cargo vessels of some 200 tons. In conjunction with the declaration of peace in 1918 the price of freight tonnage drops dramatically and many of the vessels become more or less worthless.

Sven Salén is lucky though. Just before the end of the war in 1918, he manages to sell “Transocean” to a shipping company in Gothenburg for a million SEK. When the new owner a little while later, is forced to sell the ship, he is only able to raise 50,000 SEK. The other ship “Eros” is however, badly storm damaged after a journey from the USA to South Africa. The load is both late in arriving and unsellable and Sven Salén is compelled to repay the monies that the buyer paid in advance.