Along with many other POWs, von Werra is then sent by ship to Canada. The ship arrives at Halifax, Nova Scotia, then there is a train journey. On the train ride across the country, while the guards are distracted, he escapes near Smiths Falls, Ontario, by jumping from a window. Making his way south hitching rides, von Werra finds the St Lawrence River not as solid as he has been led to believe, He then steals a rowboat and pushes it over the ice till he reaches the free-flowing section. He falls asleep in the drifting boat. He reaches the American side almost frozen to death. He is told he is in Ogdensburg, USA, where he is arrested despite claiming asylum in the then still-neutral United States.