SMS ''Seeadler'' ( Ger:

sea eagle A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ern, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the subfamily Haliaeetinae of the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Ten extant species exist, currently described w ...

) was a three-masted steel-hulled sailing ship. She was one of the last fighting sailing ships to be used in war when she served as a

merchant raider Merchant raiders are armed commerce raiding ships that disguise themselves as non-combatant merchant vessels. History Germany used several merchant raiders early in World War I (1914–1918), and again early in World War II (1939–1945). The cap ...

with

Imperial Germany The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Built as the British-flagged ''Pass of Balmaha'', she was captured by the German submarine , and in 1916 converted to a commerce raider. As ''Seeadler'' she had a successful raiding career, capturing and sinking 15 ships in 225 days until she was wrecked, in 2 August 1917, in French Polynesia.

''Pass of Balmaha''

The ship was launched as ''Pass of Balmaha'' by Robert Duncan & Company,

Port Glasgow Port Glasgow (, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most recent census in 2011 s ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, on 9 August 1888 as a steel-

hulled Husk (or hull) in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. In the United States, the term husk often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize (corn) as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes the protective ...

ship-rigged A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with a sail plan of three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. Such a vessel is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged, with each mast stepped in three segments: lower, top, a ...

sailing vessel measuring . She was long, in beam and with a depth of . Delivered in the following month to the ownership of David R. Clark, a partner in Gibson & Clark,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, she was registered at that port with

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

95087 and signal letters KTRP. In February 1908, ''Pass of Balmaha'' was sold at

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

by Gibson & Clark for £5,500 to The River Plate Shipping Company Ltd of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Her port of registry remained Glasgow, but she was managed by American interests in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. By 1910, she had been transferred to the Ship Pass of Balmaha Company Ltd, Montreal, and under the management of George I Dewar,

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Both of these companies were controlled by American shipping and lumber interests. Soon after the outbreak of World War I in 1914 ''Pass of Balmaha'' was transferred to the neutral United States flag and registered at Boston in the ownership of the Harby Steamship Company Ltd of New York, part of the Harris-Irby Cotton Company.

Capture

''Pass of Balmaha'' was captured by in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

in 1915 under somewhat peculiar circumstances. She departed from

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

in June 1915, bound for the Arctic port of

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...

with a cargo of cotton for Russia. She was intercepted by the British

auxiliary cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

'' off the coast of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. ''Victorian''s captain led a boarding party to inspect the cargo for contraband. The British captain found reason for suspicion, and ordered ''Pass of Balmaha'' to sail to

Kirkwall Kirkwall (, , or ; ) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. First mentioned in the ''Orkneyinga saga'', it is today the location of the headquarters of the Orkney Islands Council and a transport hub wi ...

in the

Orkney Islands Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland ...

for further inspection. A prize crew of an officer and six

marines Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included Raid (military), raiding ashor ...

was left aboard to ensure compliance. The British also ordered the neutral American colours struck and replaced with the British flag, against the will of ''Pass of Balmaha''s Captain Scott, who realised that this would mark the ship as a belligerent. Soon after, ''U-36'' intercepted ''Pass of Balmaha''. To avoid being impounded, Scott hid the British prize crew in the hold and replaced the

Union Jack The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...

with the Stars and Stripes. The commander of ''U-36'', Captain Ernst Graeff, was not entirely convinced by this ruse and ordered ''Pass of Balmaha'' to sail for

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is a town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a footprint o ...

for inspection. Since U-36 was short of personnel, the German prize crew consisted of only one man, Steuermannsmaat (Mate) Lamm. A German ensign was left aboard. Scott and his crew, resentful of what they perceived as British meddling, kept the British marines locked in the hold. ''Pass of Balmaha'' reached Cuxhaven without major incident, and was boarded by a German inspection party. Captain Scott then revealed the British prize crew to the Germans, who took them prisoner. For their cooperation, the Americans were allowed free passage to a neutral country, but ''Pass of Balmaha'' became property of the German Navy.Pardoe, Blaine (2005) ''The Cruise of the Sea Eagle: The Amazing True Story of Germany's Gentleman Pirate'' Guilford, CT, The Lyons Press

SMS ''Seeadler''

By 1916 the Allies had blockaded German warships in the

, and any

commerce raider Commerce raiding is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging its combatants or enforcing a blockade against them. Privateering is a fo ...

s that succeeded in breaking out lacked foreign or colonial bases for resupply of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

. This gave rise to the idea of equipping a sailing ship instead, since it would not require coaling. ''Seeadler'' was equipped with an auxiliary engine, hidden lounges, accommodation for additional crew and prisoners, two hidden 105 mm guns, mounted on either side of the forecastle, two hidden heavy machine guns, and rifles for boarding parties. These weapons were rarely fired, and many of the 15 ships encountered by ''Seeadler'' were sunk with only one single accidental casualty on either side during the entire journey. Seeadler SLV Allen Green

On 21 December 1916, she sailed under the command of ''

Kapitänleutnant , short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( or ''lieutenant captain'') is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the modern German . The rank is rated Ranks and insignia of NATO navies' officers, OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to i ...

Felix von Luckner Felix Nikolaus Alexander Georg Graf von Luckner (9 June 1881, Dresden – 13 April 1966, Malmö), sometimes called Count Luckner in English, was a German nobleman, naval officer, author, and sailor who earned the epithet ''Der Seeteufel'' (the ...

. The ship was disguised as a Norwegian wood carrier and succeeded in crossing the British blockading line despite being boarded for an inspection. The crew had been handpicked partly for their ability to speak Norwegian. Over the next 225 days, she captured 15 ships in the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

and led the British and US Navies on a merry chase. Her journey ended wrecked on a

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

at the island of Mopelia from

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

in the

Society Islands The Society Islands ( , officially ; ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean that includes the major islands of Tahiti, Mo'orea, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country ...

, part of

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

. The ship needed maintenance so that her hull could be scraped clean but she was too big for Mopelia's harbour and so had to lay anchor outside the reef. Disaster struck when on 2 August 1917 a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

wave lifted the ship and smashed her on the reef, totally destroying the ship. No prisoners or crew were killed. The ship was burned in an attempt to hide their presence from Allied ships.

Captured ships

Sixteen ships, totalling 30,099 tons, were captured by ''Seeadler'' between 21 December 1916 and 8 September 1917. Unless otherwise noted, all vessels in the list were steamships.

Crew and POWs after the scuttling of SMS ''Seeadler''

Captain Felix von Luckner

On 23 August 1917 Felix von Luckner and five of his crew sailed for

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

on one of ''Seeadler''s open boats. In Fiji, they were captured and imprisoned. Luckner spent his time as a prisoner of war (POW) on Motuihe Island which lies between Motutapu and Waiheke islands in the

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, near

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. On 13 December 1917 he stole the prison commander's motor boat and seized the 90-ton scow Moa. Allied ships were able to guess his destination and arrested him on 21 December 1917.

Leutnant Kling and the remaining crew

On Mopelia, the remaining 58 crew of SMS ''Seeadler'' that were left behind by Luckner heard of his arrest on the ship's radio. A small French

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

''Lutece'', of 126 tons, anchored outside the reef, lured to the island by the idea of salvaging the wreckage of the ''Seeadler''. The Germans were able to board and seize the ship, its crew left with the other POWs on the island. On 5 September 1917, they set sail for South America after renaming the ship ''Fortuna''. They sailed to

Easter Island Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

as ''Fortuna'', arriving on 4 October and running aground there, after which they were interned by the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an authorities.

POWs left behind

After being abandoned by ''Leutnant'' Kling when they sailed off on the ''Fortuna'', the master of the 14th ship SMS ''Seeadler'' sank, the ''A. B. Johnson'', Captain Smith, then took the remaining open boat from ''Seeadler''. He set off from Mopelia with three other American seamen, and sailed to

Pago Pago Pago Pago ( or ; Samoan language, Samoan: )Harris, Ann G. and Esther Tuttle (2004). ''Geology of National Parks''. Kendall Hunt. Page 604. . is the capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County, American Samoa, Maoputasi County on Tutuila ...

, arriving on 4 October 1917, where they were finally able to inform the authorities of the activities of ''Seeadler'' and arrange for the rescue of the other 44 sailors left stranded on Mopelia.

Bibliography

Notes References * Allen, Oliver E. and the editors of Time-Life Books. 1978. Captain Sea Devil of the "Seeadler". ''The Windjammers'' pp. 120–143. (''The Seafarers'', vol. 6.) Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books. * - Total pages: 322 * Lowell, Thomas. 1929. "The Sea Devil" London: Heinemann. * Hoyt, Edwin P. 1969. "Count von Luckner : Knight of the Sea" (published in England in 1970 as "Sea Eagle") David McKay Co. Inc. * Pardoe, Blaine. 2006. "The Cruise of the Sea Eagle: The Story of Imperial Germany's Gentleman Pirate" Crecy Publishing. * * Jefferson, Sam. 2017. "The Sea Devil: The Adventures of Count Felix von Luckner, the Last Raider under Sail" Osprey. * - Total pages: 340 *

External links

''Count Dohna and His SeaGull''
(archived link) * illustrated account of the wartime exploits of the ''Seeadler'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Seeadler (1915), Sms World War I commerce raiders World War I shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean World War I cruisers of Germany Windjammers Three-masted ships Ships built on the River Clyde 1888 ships Maritime incidents in 1917 Auxiliary cruisers of the Imperial German Navy