Captain Teliga was an officer in the polish army when World War II started. He was wounded fighting the invaders and ended up as a captive by the Soviets. Before his capture, he removed his officer insignia which saved his life, for all the captive polish officers were murdered by the Rusians in the town of Katynie. He was sent with other captive polish soldiers into the center of Russia where he worked as a fisherman. He worked on fishing Boats on the lake Azor and the Black Sea. He eventualy reached Africa where he joined the allied forces and as a flier participaited in bombing raids on Germany. He returned to Poland in 1947. He worked on fishing boats, wrote reports and translated. In the year 1966 he built his yacht “Opty” and a year later left for a trip around the world. He has completed his journey in 1969 and was the first Pole to solo circumnavigate the world. On the 21st of May 1970, captain Leonid Teliga, the first of the great polish solo sailors died. In the heart of hearts, his personality still lives in us.