Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1929-07-18
COUNT LUCKNER
THE SEA DEVIL


opened fire and blew the poor. Inof
tensiye cargo steamer out of the wa
ter. IL was only when they exam
ihed che wreckage that they discov
cred that they had made mistake
ana sunk British freighterl Mean
while the Moewe had escaped once
more.
Nor was that the only ship the Brit
Ism sunk by mistake They shelIed
TWO harmless sailing vessels TO pieces
mstaking them for our Seeadler. II
all came about because of one OF
those familiar war rumors a rumor
10 the efe.t that we were already
somewhere off the Australian coast.
An Australian cruiser encountered .
scandinavian three-master. aud they
| seemed TO think she was behaving
/ queeriy. Word had been pissed
around that the Seeader carried tor.
/ pedoes. So the cruiser thought she
had better not run any chance OF be
Ing blown up. She openedltire Ut long
range. Only ten men aboard the
scandinavian ship were saved. La
ter oil the arinored cruiser Kent sank
another sailing vessel under similar
circumstances In the pacihc.
Sailors since Magellan. by Joe, have
talked about the storms around Cape
horn. Sea stories usually have some
thing about the tough times rounding
the Cape. had seen those storms
myself when | had sailed In the fore
| castle and as naval officer | had
| many time told tales to my brother
| officers of gales and tempests | had
| witnessed In an old windjnmmer
rounding Horn. But our trip this
voyage was to be the most unusual
of all. II the storms held us hack.
the cruisers would be almost certain
to catch US. We had sailed south In
fine time, and II we made quick pas
sage round that hoisterous tip of
South America. we might slip into the
wide Pacific and continue our ruids
Well, we ran into the dirtiest wealth
er off the Horn. gales and hurricanes
Why. there were days when even with
our motor running we could make no
Roadway at all. Ii took us three
weeks TO bent our way through the
gales and around the point. By that
time, the cruisers lay there In wait
for us. not just one or two but a
whole half dozen OF them.
Ordinarily, a sailing ship tries to
hug Cape Horn us closely as II can.
keeping quite near land If you veer
too rsfF@fo the south. you run into Ice
bergs. Navigating among icehergs with
the wind whistling through your rig
ging is enough to give any skfpper
The chills. So the storms had held
us up. and now our best chance prob
ably would be to steer us wide
course tc tile south as possible. wheth
er safe or not. The mountains of ice
We're there. and hurricane was blow.
Ing. But we considered tile Ice the
lesser Of two evils. The British watch
to the Far South was bound to be less
visilant than up nearer the Cape. We
must try 10 sui around them. So. ho
for the Antarcticl
On our way through the blockade
we had steered into the Arctic. Now
here we were heading into the Amt.
arctic
TO make II pleasant. by ice, the
weather. which had been quite decent
TO us on the way South changed In
order 70 give us regular Cape Horn
welcome. II turned into yeritahIe
hurricane. Nevertheless. we were de.
7tei'ifitifed 10 carry as much sail as pos
sible. Risky, hui we had to take
chances In the hope OF getting
through. AS the tempest increased
n"I even the SeeatIler dared carry
more than rag or two OF lower sail.
With this we tried 10 hold our wuy
Through the mist we saw d great wall
Ii came moving toward us A vas,
wall OF white, an Iceberg The wind
was driving fills white specter through
the wafer. and we had to veer off in
order 10 avoid collision
10 the north were The cruisers. ana
mere. hiif Il few hundred yards uwoy
an equally relentless enpni, bearing
down upon us. ms though determined
To turn us into the arms of our our.
suers shunf to the heImsm;lu lie /
termined as we were to 20 no further
north, We knew We could do no more +
than hug The Antarctic Ice field
The mountain OF Ice nearest us
seemed coming closer and cluser-nine
times us much Ice below the wafer as
above. As every schuulboy knows, Ii
q berg looms up two hundred feet
above The waves, Its base extends
eighteen hundred feet below the sur
face low far It's sharp hurd edges
ana spurs may extend on either side
you never can tell unless one Of them
rips open your hull. The best way 70
avoid running into d spur Is To turn