Egon Weineck is a ferry boat captain living on Rügen Island. Weineck was born in 1946. He served as a conscript in the East German navy (the Volksmarine) for 18-months from 1965 to 1966 and was honorably discharged with the rank of Seaman First Class (Obermatrose). He obtained work as a deck hand on fishing trawlers operating in the Baltic Sea and soon rose to the position of first mate. Judged to be loyal, and unlikely to defect, he was offered a job on deep sea factory trawlers that plied the cod-rich seas of the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean.