Found the Freecol startup script in /usr/games/ , not /usr/bin/ as indicated at http://sourceforge.net/projects/freecol/forums/forum/141201/topic/3269853 . Added the bit indicated and the problem is now fixed.
Recap: cd /usr/games/ sudo gedit freecol
Added -Dsun.java2d.pmoffscreen=false to the last line
Found the Freecol startup script in /usr/games/ , not /usr/bin/ as indicated at http:// sourceforge. net/projects/ freecol/ forums/ forum/141201/ topic/3269853 . Added the bit indicated and the problem is now fixed.
Recap:
cd /usr/games/
sudo gedit freecol
Added -Dsun.java2d. pmoffscreen= false to the last line