White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1929-08-02
COUNT LUCKNERE3
THE SEA DEVIL
+ BY LOWELL THOMAS Z
TT II i II i + +
BY LOWELL THOMAS

meet again, we along the Idr-OU emma
coast may be but few ships against
many enemies, but from you Of the
High Sea fleet we expect great deeds"
We Of the German navy knew and
constantly gave expression to the
thought that Britain was our guide
on the sea. Her great seafaring ira
dition was our conscious and admitted
pattern. We German naval men liked
the English and were in sympathy
with them. Our navies were alike In
spirit. The French navy was some
what different. Its morale was per.
haps not so good. French naval OFF,
GERS all come up from the ranks. The
British and German come from cadet
schools and are recruited mostly from
the first families. That is best. 1t
provides a finer corps of officers. l,
myself, came up from the forecastle,
but believe that, unless you have
officers and men from different worlds,
your men will have little respect for
their commanders. 1t must either be
that, or your officers must inspire re-
spect with their fists as in the old
sailing-ship days. The French navy
no longer has a rich tradition. 1t is
true that the French had far greater
sea fighters than we in past centuries,
and they had their fine old naval ira
ditions. But during the Revolution
the old Royal navy Of France was
swept away and remained abolished
for twenty years. At the end of that
time, new navy was formed, but by
then the fine old French traditions
seem to have been forgotten and new
traditions had to be formed. We Ger
mans, with new fleet, took over the
old, solid tradition of the British and
made 1t our own. We did everything
we could to implant 1t in our men, and
make 1t a real, living thing ingrained
in our people. Our sea leaders under
stood the Importance of tradition.
That was why we were determined to
keep a fleet after the war. When our
great ships went down at Scapa Flow,
our Socialists favored the total aban.
donment of the naval arm, but fortu-
nately enough of our people came out
of their postwar trance long enough
to prevent such fatal error. Per
haps II might be only 9 few small
ships that We could retain, but it
would serve to keep traditions alive
until we could again build up feet
as great or even greater than the
one we lost.
Won Spec was a sailors admiral.
He was a seaman by temperament,
open, honest, and jovial, uncomfort-
able on land and only himself when
on the bridge of his flagship. Too
many OF our professional fighting men,
regret to say, wore more ornamental
than useful. The, we're good at wear
ing gold lace aud that is about all.
But not Won Spec. He was at his
best on quarterback in storm. ]
still can see him pacing back and forth
with his bushy brows and piercing blue
eyes.
The day after he said auf wiederse-
hen to us at Kiel, he and his officers
and men left by transport for the
Orient, there to relieve the officers
and men aboard the cruisers of our
small Pacific squadron at Using Tao.
What was to have been their two-year
term overseas began as commonplace,
quiet routine. 1t ended under the sal
vos of British guns off the Falkland
islands.
Won Specs plan, when the war
caught him $4,000 miles from German
waters, was to harass the allies In the
Pacific and then try to slip back
through the North sea to Kiel. Lady
Luck smiled on him for little while
and then deserted him. After cross.
ing the Pacific he caught Craddock,
the British admiral, off the coast OF
Chile. Won Specs star was in Its as
cendancy at this time and Craddock's
on the wane. A German secret agent
In Chile flashed wireless to Won
Spec giving him the information that
Craddock was waiting for the arrival
of the big but old battleship Campus
that was rounding the Horn. Without
the Campus, Craddock's forces were
weaker than Won Specs. and Won
Spec instantly dashed to the attack
so as to engage Craddock before the
Campus came up. Craddock and his
men met their fate like true British
sailors. Outgunned, the British cruis-
ers continued to fire until they sank
Only one, a small boat, got away.
But their conqueror's days were num-
bered.
Won Spec now began his long race
toward Kiel. Only two routes we're
possible, one by Cape Horn and the
other by the Cape Of Good Hope. OF
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