Show no sea tradition says captain must die its just a myth BUENOS baraf AIRES though germanys germanas Germ anys pocket battleship graf spee spec lies under the ocean and her captain hans langsdorff has been buried several weeks naval men are not through discussing the tragic fate which prompted this scuttling of life and property contrary to popular conception langsdorff upheld no naval tradition by killing himself after his ship went down both written code and tradition merely state that a captain must be the last to leave his ship and since most battleships have too few lifeboats it is almost inevitable that the captain should die V the graf captain probably killed himself it is thought because he was not allowed to battle the british ships outside montevideo harbor until his own boat went down fighting this is what any commander would have done in tact fact admiral grat graf von spee for whom captain vessel was named went to his death in the world war fighting a vastly superior enemy his only hope was to inflict damage on the british ships langsdorff there was probably another reason too naval superstition and it is all powerful regards as unlucky any captain who has lost his ship therefore captain Langs langsdorff durff probably feared his career went down with the grat graf spee the british commenting on adolf hillers Hit lers order to scuttle the boat firmly believe right in saying of captain tragic decision it is obvious that a gallant man was ordered to do something that he just stomach I 1 I 1 |