Per Mansson grew up in Kalmar, on Sweden’s eastern Baltic Sea coast, south of Stockholm.
Kalmar was home to a seafaring training school, and the young Mansson came into contact with many who were heading for careers at sea.
He started as a deckhand in 1970 and spent 10 years at sea earning his master’s ticket, serving on a mixture of general cargoships, container vessels, reefers and a suezmax tanker.
