Karl Spindler (naval officer)
Karl Spindler (1887-1951) was a German naval officer who was involved in an attempt to bring German arms ashore in Ireland to assist Irish rebels as part of the Easter Rising of 1916. Early life. Spindler was born in the small town of Königswinter, near Cologne, Germany on 29 May 1887, the son of a quarry owner, Hubert Spindler, and his wife Elise (née Fuchs). At an early age Spindler decided to go to sea rather than to join the family business, serving for a period as a watch officer on a Lloyd Line steamship . He subsequently enlisted in the marine school in Bremen and the naval academy in Sonderburg (now in Denmark, but then in Germany). He served on several ships of the German Imperial Navy and at the outbreak of the Great War, he was commanding the Polarstern, a guardship for the port of Wilhelmshaven. Naval career. On 20 March 1916, Spindler was given instructions by his senior officer to undertake a highly secretive and dangerous mission on board a disguised merchant ship and to pick five officers and a crew of 16 to join him on the journey. He was given command  of a vessel named "Libau", falsely renamed "Aud", a Norwegian freighter of similar appearance. It was to carry a cargo of German arms to the west coast of Ireland along with a passenger, Sir Roger Casement, as part of a plan to assist Irish republicans in staging what would become the 1916 Easter Rising. Spindler travelled to Berlin for further orders and met Casement. However, Casement preferred to travel onboard the submarine which would accompany the "Libau." Casement was later set ashore by the submarine at Banna Strand in Co. Kerry via a small collapsible boat. However, Casement was arrested  soon afterwards on Good Friday, 21 April 1916, and taken prisoner in the Tower of London on charges of High Treason against the United Kingdom. He was subsequently executed by hanging at Pentonville Prison on 3 August 1916. The uprising had failed. Spindler's ship was intercepted by British naval vessels near the Blasket Islands and forced to sail for Cobh (then known as Queenstown) where there was a major British naval base. Spindler instructed his crew to open the ship's sea-valves and blow an explosive charge in the hold. As they left the sinking ship the crew  took down the false Norwegian flag she was flying and hoisted the in its place. They boarded two dinghies and were taken as British prisoners of war to Donington Hall. From there they later escaped only to be recaptured the following day. Spindler was in a weakened state after several bouts of ill-health, and in a prisoner exchange shortly before the end of the war he was transferred to the Netherlands. Literary works. In 1921 Spindler published a book on the "Aud" episode which was translated into English as "The mystery of the Casement ship" or "The Mystery Ship