Since I already had eight months' worth of experience at sea, I was considered practically an expert. Now, at that time, there were other Jews here who sailed, but they did it to make a living - not as part of an ideological Zionist endeavor.

I got my friend, Yitzhak Sadeh, to help me. In 1942, when I returned to Israel, I heard that there was this thing called the Palmah that had a naval branch called the Palyam, and I wanted to join it. After sailing on various ships, I did my officers' courses in London - for third, then second and then first officer. I had to bribe a guy named Perlman a whole month's salary to arrange it. You simply got on the ship and said you wanted to become a sailor? I was so embarrassed by this that I boarded a Palestinian ship that sailed from Haifa to Tobruk. When I got back, everybody told me I was all talk, and that I was just trying to show off and impress people. But I was caught on the way and returned home. To do this, I stowed away on a Solel Boneh ship. So I decided to go to Odessa and enlist in the Red Army. But I didn't want to join the of the British army, because they gave us lousy jobs. Ike Aranne (formerly Yitzhak Aronowicz), the captain of the Exodus who died last week, told The Jerusalem Post's Ruthie Blum Leibowitz in an interview in his Zichron Ya'acov home in November 2008 that neither the Leon Uris's novel, Exodus, nor the film with Paul Newman bears any resemblance to the cold, hard facts. NOTE! Consider delaying until first div on page If (slot) slot.addService(googletag.pubads()) (function (a, d, o, r, i, c, u, p, w, m) Leon Uris 'Exodus' novel had nothing to do with reality, skipper said - The Jerusalem Post

Exodus uris novel