From a great distance, I would not be surprised either. But supposedly, or so you said, the "cruiser" entered the port when your father's ship was there, so he could have had a good look at her.fredleander wrote:Oh, yes - I would not be very surprised if he, or his fellow crew members, mistook any naval vessel between a sloop and a battleship knowing how supposedly trained military air and naval observers of the period often showed such incapabilities.
[/quote]fredleander wrote:That said, it was not an uncommon event for Norwegian sailors or ships to escape from internment.
Well, AFAIK it was a very uncommon event during the SCW.
In fact, the ship should not have been interned, but captured, so in the first place I would expect some kind of armed guard preventing such actions. If caught carrying weapons or military material, so much so. On the other hand, if not involved in commerce with the republican side they should expect to be released, so no need to take risks.
A look through http://WWW.warsailors.com show a number of norwegian ships captured and taken to Ceuta, and then freed. I can find no mention of a ship evading from Ceuta.
Without any further data, specially some names for the ships, I don't think this is going any further.
Regards.