Man who was shipped in crate seeks out those who helped

‘This Side Up’ didn’t necessarily work in his reckless adventure.

With no email or social media in 1965, Brian Robson lost touch with two friends who took part in a reckless scheme: They nailed him into a crate to ship him across the planet.

Robson, 76, now wants to know what happened to those friends, who aided him when he was 19 and without the money to fly from Australia to London. Over the past week, Irish and British news media outlets have been trying to help him find out.

Robson said he was now 90% sure that he had located them: One is in Australia, the other in Ireland. He declined to provide more details, saying only that several documentary-film companies were willing to pay for exclusive access to his story. He is publicizing a book, “The Crate Escape,” that revisits the stowaway adventure that nearly killed him.

Robson left Cardiff in 1964, when he was 18, to take a job as a ticket inspector for Victorian Railways in Melbourne. It sounded like an adventure, he said, but the job was dull and he disliked Australia. He was soon plotting an escape, but earning only about 30 pounds a month (equivalent to about $85 then), he couldn’t afford a ticket home.

So, Robson purchased a crate just large enough to sit in with his knees pressed against his chest and paid to ship it to London. By then, he’d made two friends, both Irishmen working for the railway.

They decided to label him as a computer, which they figured would make people heed labels that said, “This Side Up.” Robson climbed into the crate with a hammer, suitcase, pillow, flashlight, a liter of water, a book of Beatles songs and an empty bottle he said was “for obvious purposes.”

If all had gone according to plan, he would have hammered the crate open and walked home.

But well after 36 hours, he was still in the crate. In Sydney, he was flipped upside down for 23 hours. He was placed upright on the next flight, which, instead of going to London, was diverted through Los Angeles.

Conditions were “freezing cold” or “boiling hot,” he said. “You’re going in and out of consciousness the whole time.” He didn’t have the strength to break out with the hammer.

After more than three days, a group of Americans discovered him after one had spotted light coming from the crate. When they freed him, he couldn’t unravel his legs on his own. “I had no control over my body at all,” he said.

It took him several days to recover in a hospital in Los Angeles. Robson said he didn’t have any lasting damage except for lingering nightmares about the crate.

COURTESY OF BRIAN ROBSON Brian Robson, looking for a film deal, is safely at his at home in Wales.