New Ulm review., 1922-04-12

A SAILOR FROM BOYHOOD, HE
BECOMES CAPTAIN OF
TORPEDO BOAT.
SAILS ON THREE-MASTER TO
HARASS ENEMY SHIPS.
CAPTURES FIFTEEN. ~

Monday evening Captain Alfred
King told a fairsized audience at
Turner Hall how the raider "Seeadler'
was started on it's voyage of marque
and reprisal and of it's adventures for
months while it was rowing on the
Atlantic Ocean, of the capturing OF lat
least fifteen enemy merchant vessels,
! the final entrance into the Pacific
I Ocean where they were pursued by a
dozen or more hostile cruisers and the
final wrecking of the "Seeadler" on the
coral reefs of Mopelia. Capt. King
| is not fowery speaker. He speaks
in conversational tone, without
ostentation, and succeeded in holding
the attention of his audience for nearly.
two hours. In a dryly humorous
manner he told of some of the exploits
| Of the ship and the audience responded
with suppressed laughter and applause.
tits to be regretted that no more people
heard him. The short time in which
to advertise the lecture and the bad.
weather in the evening may have kept
away many of those who otherwise
would have been present. Il.
Followed Sea From Boyhood.
Captain King went to sea when he
was boy of thirteen. Through years
of hard service he advanced to the rank
of Captain, organized an expedition
to the South Polar region in 1912, and
during the first year Of the World War
was the commander of one of the tor
pedo boats. He it was who conceived
the idea of starting a raider fitted out
as sailing vessel into the Atlantic
Ocean and although Count Luckner
was, in the press dispatches, accredited
as commander of the "Seeadler in
reality Luckner's title was one merely
! of honor and the actual commanders s
work devolved upon Captain Killing.
CamouAage Schemes.
Captain King told the audience in
detail how the three-master sailing
vessel wassftted out, howit was chang
ed into a Norwegian merchant vessel,
all the members of the crew being
| taught Norwegian, how each was fitted
Iout with the necessary papers showing
that he was born in Norway and that
Ehe was baptized, and to make the de-
. ception complete, one of the sailors
was transf into the ibuxom wife
4 of the captain Of the ship.
i While listening to Captain Killing
lone marveled at all the different de-
tails that had to be considered and how
!. Inothing was overlooked in the matter
EofmaH king the deception complete. The
audience was intensely gripped when
lhe described the search made of the
I, vessel by British officers Of a cruiser
: Eiust before entering The Atlantic Ocean
Land how by a miracle they escaped
being detected. The aSeeadler" was
]! to outward appearances a sailing
vessel but it carried strong enough
! motors to be able to make!sa race witt
/ any merchant vessel quite interesting
Captured Fifteen Vessels.
While raiding in the Atlantic Ocea1
fifteen vessels were captured, thei
crews and passengers taken on boart
the "Seeadler' with such provision
land other stores as were needed an,
then the ships we're sunk. The frs
. b II gl..E IN, . I s- { q
ship was captured through q ruse
e. Captain King knew he could not over
: take this vessel and he therefore wire
: lessed message asking for chrome
+ meter time. The Captain was kin
t enough to stop his vessel and had tn
-Eexperience Of ofigettinginto captivity an
t losing his ship for his willingness +
e serve. 84s
II IN all fifteen vessels we're capture
Y in the Atlantic and the crews taker
y By that time the mum ber of passenger
e and the crew exceeded three hundre
and it was found necessary to decreas
1.-THE passenger List. When the nes
d Iship was captured the crews Of th
e various other captured vessels wei
r transferred to this ship and then d
= rected to make for a South America
.eIport where they landed several weei
Z later. Steps had been taken, hoWeve
" Continued on page 81 ".