The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-02-05
SEEADLER RAIDERS
DASH FOR FREEDOM
German South Sea Adventurera esnfl'
cd 6c0 Miles Before They We're
Iakken Trisoasrs-
cAprUrED A LUMBER soow
Facnpnd From New 1e'lnsd Prison
IN a T1srty-flve-Fcot Iaunch--Hhd
SsDck of provt EtonE.

I nv Man). Another chapter, but /
brief one has inst been appended TO
/ fine romantic cruise Of tho wrecked (
( German raider seead'er. After ABOUT
ten davs' freedom from internment
land A. 600-mile dash In o captured /
vessel In heavy eeas, her former COM /
rr77dcr. count Felix Won Luckner. 7
paya .steIv recaptured OF the ker I
roeaec Islands. and along with him
se,zays1 othe~ escaped Germans Tho
r,rEtivee. who numbered eleven IN
fe54 ,.ara at ge from December IL
! 20 December %, hut were intercept
"A Inv Q Nazr Zealand steamer and
retaLen without trouble, Five New
4 zealauders thcy had Themselves tax
Z After a pra,racted cruise IN the Al
lar45r and Pacific the Seead}er was
wrecked on reef in the Society
gro. % early In August. Late IN SEP
ternber Won Luckuer and five OF hls
. officers who had taken to heavily
armed launch of the cruiser. were
captured in the Fiji group. They had
hce7 lying in wait for some steamer.
/ ~,npu}ariv enough. a Ff3ian, who IN
! dc~afood German. tricked them. they
were hlufged into surrenderire Ivy two
T#H -co~stabuiarv officers These on
-ers led them to believe that the inter
island steamer Anra. which they
ttAe afrcers) had requisitloned was
armed Tho six Germans were
brought ~ Auckland ard placed In
tnternmnnt on Notuihi island and
here Won Luckner's latest adventure
begins
Great czciterucnt prevailed IN Auck-
land when II was announced that on
December i 3 nearly dozen German
prisoners had escaped from Motuihi
island they included Won Luckner,
whose rank IS that OF lieutenant-con-
n1arder. Lieutenant Carl KirsChetss.
who ranked next 10 him on the Seead-
Ter Aibreoht Won Egidy a plantation
cwrc- in Samoa, n wireless operator
named ttrunn a wireless engineer
named Freund sailor named ED
marin. and i've naval cadets who had
been brought 70 New Zealand from
Samoa I'm October, 1919. These
cadets were named Won Hatorski,
Schmidt, MalIert F'aplsen and Klohn.
This military authorities decided TO
give the utmost publicity 20 the
escape and they asked people, esre-
cially those living in coast towns, 60
give prompt infornta tou to tho police
II thov knew Of anything which might
iead to the Germens' rscapture
Meantime . vigorous search vvas In
! 2tituted win vratevec vessels we're
ava able
The Office ju charge o. Tia Tctu9hI
. stand prison camp, Lieutenant Colo
0si 9. Il Turae~. was suspended
v pending n" Hn3're % court Of in
Qulry. Disclosures raade here and in
= Auckisnd showed thesn To have been
the circumstances Of the escape:
: Tive 81 the Germans were working
= on che Cunmand2nt's launch she
! Pearl ut the prison camp, and were
:. .stiIi on board whsn the small dinghy
uFei al the island drifted on. Several
- Iof ,h~ guards at 'he pier we're ashore
4 ana to hem the prisoners or the
launch called out that they wa 80
Il pick . the dinghy They dl5 so. bat
instead OF returning To iht pier they
pr, ceeded around a point Of the IS
land There, suhsequsEtly they took
in the other nine prisoner. Ar the
. Pearl ard she dinghy were the only
vessels ut Inc island, pursuit Was Inn
. possible.
As soon as The alarm HAD beer Civ.
err thu military on the island tried "a
7 telephone 70 the military authorities
At AUCKLAND, but found themselves I'm
r. able 20 40 so, 1t was assumed that
the wire had been CIT. but after a
9 long and careful search II was dis,
covered that the Germans had
''earthad" the line by laying "a contact
Il down thn side Of one OF the telephone
luoies. The dldicuiues Of the search
. were increased by darkness, which
had come on. The break was re-
Il paired and at midnight commuuica.
zion 49, established with the adiu.
3 tant general at Auckland In this
meantime the island guard had light.
ed bc1tires to attract the attention al
u Auckland Presently rockets were
- seen ascending. which were taken h
" the guard 10 be answering signals b,
the deferes authorities, In reality
{ che rockets were part OF a display o.
fireworks At q fair being held at Re
muera. In consequence OF this mis-
tshs and OF the 'earthea' wire mucf
precious time Was lost in sending GU
! pursuing steamers.
The launch Pearl was thtrty-nv,
feet long. and had a speed OF ten knots
= She had ten cases OF bspzine aboart
when tho prisoners seized her Sht
a was used by the Germans to get clqaI
Of the port Of Auckland. The mex
- ntght they seized the lumber scow Mos
of Mercury Bay. The Mos belongs Il
:, IN Leyland and 0'Rrien Timber corn
pany, Of Auckland. and is nineev~fou
~ feet long. Her gross tonnage is 127
;" She had on her when Won Luckne
and his compatriots encountered he
soms $4,000 feet Of lumber. wortf
about $4,000 Her captain. Bourke b,
! name, an eX-memher Of the British
navy, and his crew OF f9uf were takei
J. wholly by surprise. as they had no
heard OF the escape, and they an,
their craft seem 10 have been capture,
~ without resistance,
On the night following the escap
r the soow Elsie observed a launch edg
u toward her off Kawau island r.,
lie launch did not heed the Elsie's hall
On which tbs latteFs captain Aired
ut rife shot across hor bows Tn
launch, which was undoubtedly tn
O. Pearl, with the Germans aboa I'd
she cred off and mode OF in the direc
re- tiou Of Mercury bay, Hero she raj
upon the lesa suspicious MoG.
ar On tho Sunday after the escape, run
nins in the wild weather prevaflina
- the coastal steamer Oneroa was halle,
" ny a strange launch The ti1na wa
iust before dawn. Il was proha bly, tn
no Pearl again, The Oneroa's captain wa
aware of The escape. and at once post
Z, ed armed men against the launch
~ approach. Some one on the launc'
asked IA English what the steamer
81 name was. but when this was givel
did not reply, The launch then dashe
le on
At the inquiry into the escape on
n witness testified that suspicious ha
been aroused that an attempt woul