Show t I 1 I 1 t t t t t 1 l t t W L um 0 2 0 nw A THE SEA DEVIL copyright by LOWELL THOMAS doubleday duran co c by AL AL ac if 4 count luckner lackner tells of erf being ordered to take command of a sailing vessel veel la in 1914 1916 to run the british blockade the tb vessel was waa armed and carried a crew of laty sixty it was wa disguised so 0 o that its real ral nature could not be discovered except by a mot most complete examination it was wa planned that the crew w were e s to be disguised as ao norwegians Norwegia ns lu luckner c aru irr could speak nor fluently CHAPTER II 11 continued it would have looked suspicious for a naval officer to be directing work of this kind with such infinite luite pains so BO at the ship yards I 1 posed as herr von con eckmann inspector of the onval naval ministry an old retired captain of the ship 0 inspection service happened to be hopping in the same hotel his love for his bis old profession caused him to take a most embarrassing interest to my work one slay lay he met a bonafide ship inspector and asked him whether he knew me von ton eckmann lets see I 1 know everybody in the service there Is no von eckmann on the roster then blurted out the old captain he must be a spy I 1 always said he had bad a typically english face ill watch him through mistake two letters came tor for me without the usual cover address both of if them hern gave my full name and rank I 1 argued with the head bead waiter trying to get him to give me the letters for delivery to my t friend count luckner luchner the old captain happened to be snooping near by although I 1 know it by now a 0 w an anything I 1 did was suspicious 11 he e already had me hung and quartered as his count rys arch enemy what did that fellow want he be in quiren hired of the head waiter he asked me to give him the letters for foi lieutenant commander count von ron luckner Luck ncr hal I 1 I 1 suspected no nothing that tant evening took the train for bremen A detective entered my compartment and demanded my papers I 1 gave them to him i count von luckner lackner he be exclaimed astonished and embarrassed 1 I must ft have made a mistake I 1 nm am looking N tor for a spy from I 1 grew worried could it be that I 1 binemy secret agents were watching n the work on my auxiliary cruiser t where was the spy reported ile he lives at hotel f that was my hotel the spy was watching me I 1 told him that I 1 would take upon myself the responsibility of saying that there were the most urgent reasons why this spy must be caught nod and that he must wire his bis principals that the utmost vigilance must be used we already have the railroad cov ered bred at both ends put but we will increase our precautions he replied the spy will surely be caught J in bremen of at mans hotel I 1 was gain again stopped by a detective who demanded my papers again my papers confounded and bewildered him the description of the spy fits you exactly be said bald once more I 1 urged that the headquarters of the secret police be corn com banded to catch the secret agent at 1 tny any cost at the trocadero dero I 1 sat with a bottle of wine to in front of me A provost officer with two men in uniform came up to me come with us you yon are under arrest 1 I 1 flew into a rage at these repetitions eions of stupidity us as I 1 thought them to be 1 I am a naval ft you are a spy come with us I 1 the usual spy mania spread throughout the restaurant blows were threatened chairs were brandished brandishes bran dished and there were shouts of kill the spy kill biml on all sides it the officers fought the crowd off I 1 wo lid have been badly beaten it headquarters I 1 was shown a de and even a picture of myself so there thelle was no doubt but what I 1 was their dion under what name does this spy f travel 2 I 1 demanded under the name came of marine lo in von eckmann why I 1 am tie he cut but you just said you were count yon von luckner I 1 was compelled with great injunctions of secrecy to take them into my confidence and bad them telephone 4 the admiralty tor for confirmation the prying old captain at k munde soon took himself to other ports parts by request I 1 As I 1 explained my plan was to slip a through the british blockade as a neu aral und and if possible disguised as some other oilier ship that actually existed there i happened to be a norwegian vessel that was as almost a dead ringer toi for the pass of Buli Bai naha maba she was sched died to sail from copenhagen I 1 de aided that we would take her came and sail the day before she ehe called so EC that if the british caught us and wire lessed to copenhagen to confirm our oui av t story etory they would receive word that thai tuch such a craft bad left port at the time we claimed this other ship was gamed the maleta for some time linie she hi had been discharging grain from thi the Arg argentine entice irum from denmark she klie was wa to proceed to and there pick up op a cargo why not a cargo of lumber for melbourne I 1 bent ent to copenhagen donned old el clothes othes and got a job as a dock on the pier where the real maleta was moored that enabled me to study her there was one thing that promised to be difficult to coun ter lerfelt felt that was the log book tills this precious volume contained tile the life his tory of the maleta when she left the argentine what kind of cargo she carried what course she steered the wind tile the weather observations of sun and stars etc etc that log book must be in the captains cabin and I 1 must have IL it but a watchman was stationed aft so how flow could it be done I 1 discovered that the captain and both mates were still to in Norway with their families so go it would he some days before the loss of the book would be lf if I 1 got it so one night to in the uniform ot of a customs inspector I 1 stole aboard the maleta the watchman as usual was sitting near the captains cabin the ship was as moored to the pier with ropes fore and aft stealthily I 1 tip toed to the bow and cut the ropes not quite through but almost A stiff wind was blowing the ropes cracked and broke the ship swung around the watchman nn ran forward shouting and at the some same moment I 1 ran aft tumbling around the captains cabin I 1 at first failed to locate the to log finally I 1 discovered it under the skippers mattress shoving it beneath my belt I 1 slipped out ont on board now and also on the pier half a dozen men were shouting and throwing ropes to haul her buck back so she sideswipe side swipe a nearby near by ship I 1 joined in the shouting pretended to help them tor for a minute then clambered on to the dock and hurried off in the dark we now dow put on tile the final touches that were to turn the pass of Bal galmaga molia into the maleta malera we painted her the same color as the maleta arranged her deck the same and decorated the cabins with the same ornaments in my capt captains aiDs cabin I 1 hung pic turoa uros of the kin king and queen of norway and also of their jovial relative king edward VII of england the barometer thermometer ond and chronometer nod and all the other instruments were of norwegian make I 1 had a norwegian library and a phonograph and records we had enough provisions from norwegian firms to last us through the blockade it would hardly do to have any bismarck herring sauerkraut and pretzels in sight II if the british boarded us would it the names dames of the tailors sewn inside my suits and my officers suits were replaced with labels from norwegian tailors on my underclothing we embroidered the name of the cap tain of the imaleta ala leta knudsen I 1 had bad learned in copenhagen that a donkey engine was being installed on the maleta very well we gt got to donkey engine ot of the same make rom copenhagen and installed it on no our ship the log book of the maleta was solemnly put in place and the fint entry was made today put to in a new donkey engine we got up our cargo papers in reg ular form signed and sealed by both the norwegian port authorities and british consul we also had a letter signed by his bis maje consul at copenhagen pen pell hagen bagen stating that the maleta was carrying lumber tor for the use of the government of the commonwealth if australia the letter requested nil all british ships to help us if any emergency arose to prove that this i bioc oc ament was jenu genuine lne it was even stamped with the british hap imperial erial seal made to in germany I 1 also had a letter which a i officer had supposedly written to my and which my had forwarded to me warning wi ui against german search officers oui but ad us to place our trust to ID the british I 1 A sailor with the loneliness of the sea upon him nearly always takes with him on his voyages photographs of his people now the crews on british warships know sailor ways nays so I 1 inquired all about the procedure from captains of neutral ships who had bad had their ships searched they told me that the british always inspected the toc ste to see that everything looked right there I 1 immediately got er a lot of photographs to pass us as those of norwegian sailors parents ts brothers and sisters uncles and aunts sweethearts wives and mothers in law what old did it matter whether the sweethearts were good looking or hot sailors sweethearts are not always prize beauties we sent a man to norway for the pictures in order to have the names of norwegian photographers stamped on them the british are smart people by joe and they know bow to search a ship they attach special importance to sailors ors letters the alie sailor eagerly looks forward to the letter he be will re celce at the next port he never throws the letters away either but at al ways keeps a stack of nt them to in tilt bli sea chest sometimes you yon will see him reading a letter that his mother sent gent him eight years before so we had to get up a whole set ot letters letter tor for our norwegian sailors sa llora each set totally different from the other of course the stolen log of the maleta gave us a lot of useful information about her crew and our fake letters were made to tally with this information women in the admiralty and foreign offices who knew norwegian wrote them tor for us we got oll of I norwegian stamps and norwegian postmarks of various ports the letter were supposed to have been sent ft flo then we aged the letters in chemicals tore and smudged some of them I 1 picked as my otti officers cers men woo like myself had spent long years before the most mast who knew corwe norwegian inn and were of the right spirit first officer kling lad had been a member of the Fllch Ger expedition in which he had bad distinguished himself the officer w n hou honi I 1 selected to go aboard captured ships was a former comrade of mine a fellow of six feet four whom I 1 met by chance on a dock in response to ray MY question whether he wanted to accompany me he asked Is it one of those trips that Is likely to send you to he heaven avenT yes then rin im with you MY y name te 4 preiss and you are after prizes go bo ill bring you lock lack my artillery and navigation of fleer lieutenant Kirch Kirc elss heiss was a wizard navigator engineer krauss masour was our motor expert the boatswain tile the carpenter and the cook the three mainstays main stays of a voyage in a salting sailing vessel I 1 picked with like care of the men who were to go with me I 1 only needed twenty seven with a knowledge of Nor norwegian there were just awen ty seven aboard the real mallets aleta tl in selecting my men I 1 interviewed each candidate personally but gave him no hint of why I 1 wanted him I 1 tried to read these mens souls in order to discover in them the qualities of courage and endurance that would be needed now we needed a name tor for our raider we needed one that she could take for her official name as an wix aix illary cruiser after running the block ade I 1 wanted to call be her the abhat r ro ss out of gratitude to the albatross that saved me from drowning when I 1 was a lad but I 1 discovered vint that there was already a vessel with that name a mine layer then I 1 wanted to call the ship the sea devil the name cattle by which I 1 personally was afterward to be called sly my officers favo favored ired some name that would suggest the white wings of our lp so we compromised on Se eadler or sen eagle on a pitch dark november night the Se eadler with a small emergency crew raises anchor and satis out of the mouth of the weser into the north sen sea there some distance offshore we drop anchor at a remote place along the doks doks at Wilhelm wilhelmshaven shaven men appear one by one by the light of a dimly burning lantern I 1 gather my crew next morning a scow of lumber lay ISY alongside and we stacked timber to a height of six feet over all the deck and fastened it down with wire and chains every man bad his role every man dion must now prove his fits mettle as an actor officers and sailors were given the names dames of off officers leers and sailors aboard the maleta they had bad to get used to their new names fritz meyer heyer was now ole johnsen miller became Bjorn bjornsen sea hans bans lehman became lors lars carlsen and they knew me only as captain knudsen we had long practice drills until the new names slid off our tongues without getting stuck each man also had bad to learn i a lot about his bis native town that be oever never knew before 1 I 1 had bad already assembled as much information as I 1 could about the towns listed in the stolen log book and the rest we invented each man bad to learn tile the names dames of the mall main streets of his bis town the principal arlu hotels taverns and drug stores as well as the names of the mayor nod and other officials much of this sort of material had already been woven into the letters we had bad prepared for the sailors each man imin had bad to familiarize himself with the set of photographs that had bad been allotted to him and the names of them all tile the contents of his letters and ft fix in his mind a whole new past life according to the life of a sailor of the real maleta whose role be was to play TO BE CONTINUED |