Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30
Luckner S Privateer House Party
Captured Ships With Sham Battles

| and as if every ones life depended
| upon it.
| From bow and stern of the Sea
| Eagle machine guns opened fire. Sail
| ors in the rigging and lining the rail
| spattered the steamer with musketry.
| Then the little cannon was fired. The
round ball. travelling so slowly that
| it could be seen, arChed over, struck
the steamers wireless mast, rico
chetted off, and began kicking around
! the steel deck.
| The count, who had been rushing
| ferociously about, directing the at
tack, could restrain himself no longer.
He stopped and turned to his several
hundreds of captives, standing in con.
vulsions of laughter on the Sea Eagle S
deck:
There" he said, "are we not dan
gerous pirates?"
Later the steamer was planted with
dynamite and sent to join the other
| prizes at the bottom of the sea.
x y & 4
MOST dangerous of the combatant
1A Germans in the Atlantic, yet
least likely to inhict bodily injury
upon any of his enemies. Count Luck
ner came not only to be liked, but
thoroughly respected and admired.
Even to the victims 1t seemed incon-
ceivable that this floating house party
was wreaking more damage on allied
shipping than any other German sur
face craft. No wounded, no suffering
no privution, no sign even of fatigue
marred the aimless but effective cruise
of the Sea Eagle. Only the periodic
excitement of being huddled below for
few hours, to come up and find their
numbers increased, reminded the cap
tives that they were prisoners of war
on an active "battleship."
Gradually the Sea Eagle became
overcrowded. There were. as has been
said, $50 captives on board at the last.
AS all of the captains, IL of them,
sat at mess one day, the count came to
| them in the cabin and said:
Now, 1t is time for you to go home.
| shall take the Charles Gounod, which
we have just captured, and put you all
on ii. Ho all my booty gone at once,
eh? / shall send you into Rio, but You
must promise not to give word of me
until you reach Brazil. Capt. Charles
Mullen will be In charge of the Charles
Gounod. | shall trust you all. And l
shall miss you"
The captains declared unanimously
/
There were members of the cap.
tured chews who had come to the
bosn's mate and asked to be put to
work. There were passengers who
had volunteered their services
throughout the ship.
Count Luckner brought the Sea
Eagle alongside the Charles Gounod
and directed the $50 guests" to get
in line. To each man who had per.
formed labor on the raider he gave
sailors pay for the time he had
served.
The small boats began to ply be.
tween the raider and the Charles
Gounod, now converted into a trans
port The Gounod small steamer
became packed with people, standing
on every deck. lining the rails. For
every one, as they went over the dark
sides of the Sea Eagle, the count had
a personal good-by. TO Mrs. kohler
he gave a handsome present. saying:
II am sorry to have so disarranged
your honeymoon, but you can console
yourelf with the reflection that it has
been a unique yum"
Then occurred one Of the most
astounding events of the war
AS the Gounod got up steam the
ex-prisoners burst into cheer, a
rousing cheer, for their captor, who
had ended by capturing their hearts
Handkerchief fluttered, cries OF leave
taking were exchanged, signaled sa
lutes were flashed over the water
until the little steamer was out OF
sight.
The count, raider extraordinary
heaved a sigh. He had taken the
enemy, and he was theirs
80 go a great many good friends,
he said.
But the wind was freshening. and
| now he knew he had little time. When
| the Gounod reached Rio the comfort
| of the Sea Eagle would cease.
Hard port he cried to his helms
| man. We're going south They1
| be after us soon now. The Horn for
us--around the Horn into the Pacific
"Piratesi All, we are great pirates
| Bluff pirates, we are, But--ho, we
| shall have to fight if they catch us
now. / do not want to fight. / want
| to play our own game. Take the
| breeze! To the Horn
| And the little Sea Eagle. sails
| spread, white foam running free over
| her prov, sped down along the Brazil
| ian coast to new and even wilder ad
! ventures. Before her were men Of
| war lying in wait. And storms. ice
/ bergS, more victims. perhaps ship
wreck. The count did not know al
this, but he sensed that there was
more to his game than had yet beer
| played
He paced his bridge happily, his pipe
| set in his broad grin, his big hands
| folded behind him his eyes squinte6
merrily into the South Atlantic air
/ Pirate, ell? He had made himself a
! new kind of pirate. The gentleman
| buccaneer had been born.