VOYAGE WITH VON LUCKNER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15221, 20 May 1920, Page 4

VOYAGE WITH VON LUCKNER.

A GREAT ADVENTURE. . Jl, Greymouth Evening Star reporte ' -gleaned hitherto unpublished particular relative to the voyage home of the lam ous Count vo« Luckner, the Germai commander who gained fame for his dar ing escape, from internment on Motuih Island,' and for his subsequent adven. lures before being recaptured. The in formation was secured from Captain R t Cbrdy, acting-master of the Rosamond - v He was chief officer of the s.s.' Wil -. lochra when she conveyed 900 repatri iited German prisoners to Amsterdam othe itnost notable of these being the notorious Count von Luckner, and th< latter had oh several occasions passed various comments oh tlie war and things in j; general. On. one occasion he statethat the only, mistake Germany had made was that the Fatherland entered the war. too soon. ■ : In,, view of after events he constantly expressed ' the opinion that- if Germany had only waited a little while longer before declaring war the final result would have been different. Von Luckner frequently gave .' lectures on board, among them ]being ope on the Jutland battle. .The lectures, however, "were in German, . and were not- understood by the British officers. He had a set of models of the various ships engaged and as the lecture proceeded a seaman would move them about , to indicate the various positions • during the action. Towards the end. of the, lecture ho used to get very excited and wave hi s arms about , arid though , the. Britishers could hot understand Qer man., the very actions, and the frequency with which "he used to refer to .Britain showed an intense unqualified haired, ; pf the British. Be was an intense patriot, of the Fatherland and at times burpt into the bitterest invective of the . Allied nations. A BATHETIC INCIDENT. , A somewhat pathetic incident in, which "Von Luckner .was concerned was also related. A German merchant skipper became paralysed. - He was only allowed to leave" in view of , his . condition on the promise beinig given, by. the chief officer and 'the second officer of his vessel that they would look, after him. This they did most, deyotedly. He died on.. the '■ voyage, jo Amsterdam and the , funeral s^iwice Was - conducted by voii, .Luckner. The varying; traits- of tlie ■German commander were seen at this service. Inateid of the . ruthless' German ofl|cer it ,was ; as; if. a, "man " of ; tender" sympathy was addressing his compatriot?.- Captain Cdrdy was informed after\yards tbafcvon Imekher' had made a pathetic address in which he. said-it .was.'a- sad thing that the German officer' Who had been captured could not be laid to rest in the Fatherland. There were 900 Germans on board, including; a. considerable ■ number of criminals from Australia who were designated as thei Sing Sing Germans, after the name of::the famous prison. Tlie guard cf 100- mfth were under most capable Officers. Major Blackett (New Zealand), and Colonel Stevenson (Australia). With such a famous and daring leader as von Luckner and such a crowd of desperate Germans ab6ard it was essential that the greatest precautions should be taken. Lewis guns were placed at each end of the bridge and the whole of. the boat deck and other strategic points were guarded by anved sentries ,. who were placed at the lieu ds/of the stairs and in other places. ; Uhknowh to hi-nself a special. ''guard was. placed on Count von l_Uckner, whose every- movement was watched. He was regarded as a .man who would dare ■ anything for the; purq love of adventure, and with. his innate, cunning and ability was a most dahgeroin individual. The defences of the boat deck were the main . features so, far «s the controlling of.^the men were concerned, and its secrets were' jealously guarded from the . . w % prisoners. Tlie steps leading up to the boat /deck, ;on which under no cir-. qifinstahces, Vwere the Germans allowed, were KeldiJby sentries by day and night, and there was absolutely no hope of any prisoners passing ..them. . .With :a view. obviously, of ascertaining • what the defences of the boat .deck were Count von -Luckner tiiied various schemes to. reach it. . Major _31ackett kept a S©ry keeir eye. on the"" Count, and was proceeding, up the^steps to .the boat deck one day when von Luckner followed him. , In: answer to the sentry he said he desired, to speak to the Major, and made as if to go up the stepsj but his ruse to ascertain the extent of the defences failed. The Major immediately turned and ordered 1 him back. During the voyage the Count wore his full. "naval uniform as an officer of the German Navy ? but when the Winc-chx"*. reached Amsterdam he donned V civilian ' strife and the last , the New ftealandfers ever saw of the adventurous Count von Luckner was when he walked, away from the.ship.^ a quiet, well-dressed civilian. ' The Germans amused 1 themselves irt Various ways during the voyage, a,nd their love for music was, manifest. ; A splendid orchestra -was formed and played music composed by one Of, their members. ..The curious niixt are of the German character was evidenced in this as in, other ways. At one minute they * would 1 ' act like beasts and at another would be heart' and soul in playing, .or listehirig to sweet -music. The German is, of course, as a geh-eral--rule, fond of alcoholic 'refreshment, and the, fact, that they were deprived of- -his- on -the 'voyage only served 1 to accentuate . their ; desire 'for liquor, and they' adopted a. most ingenious method of manufacturing 'it^ Thfey secured', an empty drum ■ and from ,it connected a steam <Soil with one of the ship's steam perculatorf. They then stpie, some dried peaches Arid!, endeavored to ferment the whole. ' The liquor which resulted evidently satisfied them, and was certainly alcoholic, 'smeflihg like strong rum. They v> had made . a t fair quantity of the liquor -before 1 their illicit still was discovered and 'soon dismantled. In July. 1919, the Willochra was steaming • in ' the direction bf Archangel with a detachment of 1200 of the Highland Diglit'. Infantry, who were . being sent- to coyer the.- retreat of the British frbhi Archangel. -i \ fin the light of after events," said Captain vCbrdy, -"it is interesting Ito note that %vhen, we got to Archangel we. were told that the Bolshevists were very hear, and! were -just Waiting for the British troops,,, to. .depprt before capturing the ciiy/»'.». The '.'British were endeavoring to form\a- White Ouard for^^ defence of' the \toyvn, buV.ther^ were a great many liol8 r h*vist& ;': and, traitors among them, and ''Pj-was ;nj>i.' surprised whep- the cable j messjages' stated that Archangel had falithV pefore Bolshevist forces. J . * 'We'- 'took a- great many Russian re-! 'fu'tfe'^si who .were v fleeing from the. Bolshe^ipts. T-iey presented a queer sight 'as v tftel flong' line of, Russian^rarts came j aldqifcide the wharf . with the owners i ah'dt their food's. When they got aboard wo that they were children' w hose parertts 'na^l fallen into the hands of the enen^yi wlufst husbands had absolutely no vjinbwleage of' the whereabouts of their, vwives, though they dreaded: tho worsts as 'they had evidently fallen into the^hatfds v oT • the Bolshevists^ whilst there r wfcre- wives oh board who mourned the '. I^.BB Of ; their husbands, " >vho had , been r-Viqtiips of the. cbminoh enemy. ,. ' H, .v.ahou'l'd; mention : that ' lectures were given las We we^e on the way to Archangel i -by an -officer of the Highland Light - Infancy > who could speak Russian, Zm&y who had' been in Hus'sia during the whole period of the ' ; . He BaidVetnohatically that it ! Was utterly .useless ; .r?6ri any of the Allied countries to interfere; with Riiissia, arid the only hope? for. -Jtussia's,^ regeneration, lay ; in her owiV'hah'as. It is not generally known that.jn. Archangel is preserved to this day tlie original, home and gilded cai'riago^of Peter the Great. The house is r %j)t round., |?y a brick building in op^jbrilto pregeWe it. We .stayed -at Ardhahgel for v three or four, days, and steaded .|to,, Dantzig and Libau, where w^ jlan^ed . the ref u^ees. The pilot who took, tlie ship into Libau said that when he returned to his house after occupation of the Germans, all he found of his home comprised two plates." and undesirable places. The proposition which she placed before the' meeting was. that they should endeavor to establish a community club open to nllof

■i . ,- ;1? years, and'*. over,, where -pleasant educative recreation might be obtained; where supervision by representative men and women would guarantee .that the amusement was of an. orderly character. - They might have card games, physical games, physical culture classes, libraries of books and. papers, popular lectures and talks, music t < billiards, dancing, and <everi kinernatographs. They might have an information bureau, through which applicants could! secure good, clean, lodgings. They might also provide light supper. The financial aspect of the matter was the serious one, said Mrs. Rollett. They would have to go to the public, and she thought the municipality should bear its share. A resolution was carried deciding to take' steps to a community club, and a sub-comriiittep. was appointedT to ap-' proach the . Mayor and other citizens with a view -to obtaining support.