SMS Seeadler: The Kaiser’s Pirates
A Pirate Ship Amidst War
SMS Seeadler was a successful pirate ship commanded by Count Felix von Luckner. The ship’s crew managed to capture and sink 15 ships over a period of 225 days. Now… What if I tell you that it all happened between 1916 and 1917?!?!
During WWI, Germany was under a sea blockade and had difficulties breaking through. The idea came up to modify a 3-masted windjammer, break through the blockade under a fake identity with crew members who could speak Norwegian, then wreak havoc on the high seas. The Seeadler was equipped with two 105mm guns and two heavy machine guns. The weaponry was hidden from view.
Strategic Deception on the High Seas
The Count and his crew took pride in taking over ships by using cunning and deception rather than violence. Their luck ran out in 1917 when the Seeadler, chased by both the Royal Navy and the US Navy, ran aground on a reef in French Polynesia. All crew members were eventually imprisoned. A year later, they went back home to a defeated country but were celebrated as heroes.
The Seeadler was one of the last recorded fighting sailing ships and a very successful merchant raider at that!
By: RBM
