VON LUCKNER’S CACHE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 April 1938, Page 2

VON LUCKNER’S CACHE

RECOVERY FROM PACIFIC ISLAND. PROPERTY OF GOVERNMENT. The visit of Count von Luckner to the Antipodes was not altogether to revisit, -with his wife, some of the scenes of his exploits as the "Sea Devil" in the Great War. He stated that when he was at Mopelia Island, in the Society Group, recently, he unearthed money, gold, uncut diamonds and pearls he had hidden there 21 years ago, and by various means managed to send them secretly to Germany.

At first the count seemed reluctant to admit that his mission to the Pacific was anything other than one of goodwill, or, alternatively, that he wished to rekindle the. memories of exciting incidents associated with the capturing of enemy ships and their cargoes, but gradually he came to the point that perhaps his visit to the Society Group did have' a specific purpose behind it. It was suggested to Count von Luckner that he must have seized some valuable cargoes from vessels he raided, especially on the sea-lanes from South Africa to Belgium. “That is so,” he replied, “but that did not belong to me. That was sent back to Germany. If that were not so, I would be a pirate. I am not that. After the war Germany had to pay what you call reparations.” The count was then asked whether the Seeadler had any specie or precious stones on board when she went ashore at Mopelia and was wrecked in 1917, and if he had been able to cache any of it. “Oh, there were papers there,” he said. “You see, I had some money —some English, Danish, Norwegian and German paper money —on board, so that when we called at neutral ports we could buy our —what you call provisions. And, yes, I had my logbook, and a paper from the Emperor, who gave me permission to raid the ships. They were very important for the history.” The count was pressed for an answer to the question whether he went secretly to Mopelia Island on his way across the Pacific in January of this year, and whether, after he had dug a three-foot hole, he had reclaimed a wooden box which contained not only historical documents, but money and valuables.

What he found there might be worth £lO,OOO, perhaps a little more, he replied. He said he had no knowledge of the value of such things. He laughed at the suggestion that possibly the booty might be valued at twice that sum.

“There was a lot of German paper money there, but now it has no value, because since the war our money has changed. When I took it from the place where I had hidden it, I found it had decayed,” he continued. ‘Of course, I would not keep any of it. It was war contraband. There was a little gold with it, but not much; nothing much —perhaps £lOO worth of gold.”

Count von Luckner would not say which vessel carried his treasure-trove to Germany, whether it was on the water ,or safely in the keeping of his country. ‘-‘Oh, no, it would not do to say that,” was his concluding answer.