A MODERN PIRATE

Marlborough Express, Volume LX, Issue 229, 28 September 1926, Page 8

A MODERN PIRATE

VON LUCKNER TOURS WORLD. STORY OF HTS CAPTURE. The cables recently mentionedj ihe fact tliat Count von Luckner was about to_sa.il the world iu a fullrigged ship to exhibit German goods. Von Luckner was commander of the German ra.ider. See Adler, that played havoc, diiring; the war, with, Allied merchant shipping in the Pac-i-lie. He claimed to, have destroyed 040,000,000 worth. The story of his capture is tohi by a resideirt of F'iji, who writes a.s follows : From information gathered it seems that. eleven iu dividuals lost their lives as a direct result of the raider's uctivity. Von Lubkner, however, did not trcat- his captives hrutally. In oue case prisoners were placed oln an island with a supply of necessaries ; dn anotlier occasion two lmndred were placed on a captu red vessel and allowed to make their way to a South American port. • The See Adler at length rau ashore on an islet about 1800 hilles east of the main F'iji gioup. The Count claimed to have purposely stranded her, duriug what proved to be an exeeptionally high tide, in order to scrape her hull. A Bri tish Navy man, however, who saw her afterwards, does not accept this story, as the spot is not at all suited to the purpose, and it would liave been impossible to refloat her. After establishing; a camp, and setting np a wireless plant on the island, the Count took five of the rnost resoureeful of his 64 officer, s and uien, and embarked in a whaleboat equipped with a packed wireless plant, stores of food and clothing, and a machine-gun. The: 'boat' was fitted with an oil-engine, the Count' s object being to capture some small vessel and return to the island for his men . GALLANT ENGLISHMEN. Soon after this a New Zealand journal published an account of a visit to Cook Island by six alleged Norwegian sailors in an open boat, who did not give a very probable account of themselves. In the meantime natives arrived in a small craft at Levuka, Fiji, and reported having seen white men pin, a previou-sly un-: inhahited island which they had passed. A day or two later the Amra, a small inter-island steamer. left Levuka with Sub-inspector TTi 11 and half a dozen native police to vis.it. the islet. Rill was a cool voung Briton, and, although on landing unarmed, with his six natives. he was considerably astonishe'cl to see six men iu German naval uniform, he hetrayed no concern, but invited them to accompany h'.im on board the Amra as his prisoners. The sides of the steamer were boarded up, and, believing themselves to be covered V- the ship.'s guns. the men aeceoted the invitation witliout demur. After placing tliem_ on the steamer. Hill left some of his police on guard , and returned to land for their guns and other weapons. On finding cattle instead of guns hehind ihe boarding, the Count and his friends were considerably chagrined. Their disappointment was not lessened by the discovery that thej entire armament of the Amra consisted nf one antiquated revolver — a ourio in possession of the captain.