The captain, Eric Ewins, said that “it went much against the grain to go back.” So the Lightbearer sailed on, safely arriving at Port Moresby on April 28, 1935.

When the time came for the Lightbearer to sail on, Eric Ewins gave me quite a shock. He said: ‘Well, Frank, you said that you chose Siam (now Thailand) as your territory. This is as far as we can take you. Now, off you go!’ I gasped and sputtered: ‘But, I hardly know where Siam is from here!’” Eric told Frank that he could get there by train from Kuala Lumpur, in what is now Malaysia.

Eric Ewins recalls: “We had an interesting and pleasant stay in the Medan district, and the good news fell on many a welcoming ear.”

In November 1936, the ketch returned to Singapore, where Eric Ewins departed. A few weeks later, he married Irene Struys, a Witness who lived in Singapore. Together, Eric and Irene continued their pioneer ministry in Sumatra. Of course, the Lightbearer now needed a new captain.

The boat was sold in the early 1940’s, just after the work of the Witnesses in Australia was banned. “She had doubtless served her purpose,” said Brother Ewins, who described his service aboard the Lightbearer as some of “the happiest years of my life.”