THE SEA DEVIL ©2011 by Marcus J. Fisk

This is an adventure story of a vibrant, Quixotic, and romantic character – Count . His life was chronicled by writers and journalists, and like a contemporary of his --

T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) -- both fought superbly in and yet both were completely ignored by their native countries or are parenthetical references to that war.

In Luckner’s time the world was emerging from the Victorian age, shedding its innocence, and receiving the cruel baptism of the 20th Century. He was a contrast – a bold and blustery sea-faring warrior who ran the British blockade in a converted, square-rigged sailing ship, raided commercial shipping and captured l4 ships and their crews. As a warrior he was highly decorated for valor in combat, he also received a humanitarian medal by the Pope.

Luckner ran away from his aristocratic home at age thirteen, lived under an assumed name to hide his nobility and started a life-long love affair with ships and the sea. His adolescence was spent at sea aboard clippers and brigantines, and ashore as a wrestler, a prize fighter, a dishwasher, an assistant lighthouse keeper, and in . After drifting for seven years he went home to Germany, finished school, and became a Lieutenant in the

Imperial Naval Reserve. Only then, did he return home to his parents, who presumed him dead.

In WWI he was granted command of a reconfigured clipper ship to run the British blockade and harass enemy commercial shipping. His brilliant deceptive tactics were so effective and his record so impressive, that the British nicknamed him “the Sea Devil.” During the eight months he ran the blockade Luckner and his crew sank 14 ships worth $25 Million in goods and kept countless other ships in port for fear of capture. It was reported that when the Count put to sea, Lloyd’s of London shipping insurance premium rates went through the roof. He was that feared.

1 His ship, the “Seeadler,” was specially configured to house the crews and officer of the vessels he captured. The captured officers of his famous “Captain’s Club” spent many long days at sea seated around a table on the after deck playing cards, drinking, and telling sea stories.

When the ship was full to capacity, Luckner would drop off the captured crews on islands where

Allied shipping would eventually stop, equipped with enough provisions to last until they were repatriated by the allies. During WWI he was captured twice and escaped once, ending the war as a POW in New Zealand.

History is often fickle. Luckner, a legend in his time, is mostly forgotten in the history books. It is a sad commentary, for as Luckner and his sailing adventures were front page news in his day, today he is lost in the archives. In the 1930’s he sailed the world on a goodwill tour, lectured, and ultimately was designated as persona-non-grata by the Nazis. During World War II he helped a young Jewish woman escape Nazi Germany and surrendered the city of under a flag of truce before the ancient city was leveled by the US Army.

An 80 year old man who could still rip a telephone

book in half, Luckner’s chivalric, swashbuckling gave way

to the more technologically-oriented sailors of the 20th

Century. Reading his story, however, one cannot help but

be drawn to this man of character, principle and riveting

action. Just as truth is more interesting than fiction – the

most compelling point to remember when telling this story

on the screen is that this is a true story. Luckner’s own

words however, capture his essence: “Honor, where honor

is due.”

2

THE SEA DEVIL

by

Marcus J. Fisk

Marcus J. Fisk 407 N. Washington Street Apt. #1 Alexandria, VA 22314 703-608-1117 [email protected]

3 BLACK

SOUND – The rising and falling sounds of the sea, gently mixing with the sounds of gulls and the wind. Starts to fade and blends with a clock ticking slowly.

INT – A STUDY. We see a ship’s clock. We move slowly across a post-Victorian study. It is a wealthy but rugged room. We see memorabilia of a sea-going man. Framed photos of square-rigged ships are hanging on the lush wood walls. A shadowbox hangs on the wall, in it a Pour le Mérite (the Blue Max), Knight’s Cross, several Iron Crosses, and numerous other German military decorations. We then see a photo of a man in uniform of a Lieutenant Commander, German Imperial Navy. In stark contrast to the strength and rigidity of the be-medaled, double-breasted long coat open cavalierly at the waist, his hands are shoved in his pockets. The man has a wide, knowing grin on his face, approaching defiance – to everything. Next, more shots of him, showing a man aging with vigor, a pipe clenched in his teeth, and ship’s crews in frames.

Next we see a sextant, long glass, nautical charts, navigator’s dividers and compass, parallel rules, a boat compass and other nautical tools and publications on our trip around the room. Finally, the CAMERA settles on a large model of a Clipper ship on the table. It is beautiful, detailed and impressive. The model has “Seeadler” engraved on the base. A large puff of pipe smoke floats through the ship’s rigging. The ship’s clock strikes six bells. A silhouette of a large man knocks out the ashes into an ashtray and picks up a captains cap off the table. The figure lumbers over to the door, picks up a suitcase and walks out into the light. The door closes as we follow the figure outside through a window to a waiting car and driver in attendance. The driver bows and closes the door, gets into the driver’s side and the car pulls out of shot.

CAPTION: “This is a true story”

EXT – Night scene of Berlin from the air.

POV – Cockpit on final approach, looking at the atrocious weather. Wipers thrashing against the torrents, twinkling, misshapen lights of the city and runway in view.

4 EXT. – A plane touches down on runway, landing lights scorching the night, beacons flashing, the spray flying as the giant wheels make contact with the tarmac.

EXT. - Lights swing through our view as the plane turns into the gate.

EXT. – A car approaches the bottom of the ramp. Doors open. A large figure in a greatcoat and captain’s cap walks powerfully down the ramp and pulls himself into the back seat of the car. Door closes and the driver pulls away from the ramp into the drenching night.

EXT. – HOTEL ENTRANCE. Car stops under the awning and a BELLMAN hurries down to the car’s back door. Another bellman that approaches with an umbrella to shield the passenger. The driver opens the boot, handing luggage to yet another bellman. All other activity stops as the staff watches the passenger emerges from the car. They all strike a pseudo ‘attention’ position as the entourage passes through the front door.

INT. – HOTEL LOBBY. Our passenger walks to the desk, the entire lobby staff bowing as he passes. He registers.

INT. - INTO FRAME – KURT and MICHAEL. MICHAEL, a 30s American journalist, looks completely disheveled, a rumpled excuse for a man, is carrying a suitcase and a briefcase. KURT is German; a man in his 40’s, proper in stance, impeccably groomed, and is helping Michael with his bags.

KURT (Hands the bellman the bags.) Bitte. First a drink. Then we start.

MICHAEL Jeezus, Kurt. I’m dead. Todtmude. Tomorrow?

KURT (Pushing his friend into the cocktail lounge) The New York Times doesn’t wait, now does it old man?

MICHAEL All the news – that fits—

5

MICHAEL AND KURT -- We Print!!!

INT – BAR. MICHAEL collapses into a chair at a table. KURT sits next to him.

KURT (To waitress) Drei bier and drei cognac, bitte. (She exits. To MICHAEL) Fix your tie and your hair. First impressions…

MICHAEL This is a good deal? International assignment. I’m supposed to cover the Berlin Wall, escapees, tanks, barbwire, Checkpoint Charlie –

KURT Ja, ja – Spies coming in from the cold….

MICHAEL Ok - Ok. So what’s the big deal about this Count, anyway? I’m a journalist. I don’t write gossip.

KURT You want a story? Adventure? Life and death?

MICHAEL 1,000 words a day or my editor yanks my Visa, my per diem and I’m back on the night Police beat.

KURT You’ll have your copy. Trust me. He sank 14 ships in World War I. One casualty. Decorated by the Kaiser for valor and by the Pope for humanitarianism. The Sea Devil has had a colorful life.

A massive hand slams down on KURT’s shoulder from behind.

6 LUCKNER (A roaring laugh) And a rich one at that, By Joe!!!

KURT Gruss Gott!!! (Rises) Graf von Luckner!!!

LUCKNER Du siehst sehr gut aus, mein Kurt! (Hugs KURT)

KURT Danke sehr. ACH! Entschuldigen sie mir. Graf Luckner -- Michael Frost

MICHAEL (Rises. Takes Luckner’s vice-like grip) Es freut mich.

LUCKNER Bitte. In the presence of the great American Press, we should speak English!

The WAITRESS brings the beer and the cognacs.

LUCKNER (Cont’d) Ah, beer and cognac. Just like your father. Mr. Frost –

MICHAEL -- Please -- Michael.

LUCKNER Michael. (Indicating KURT) Did you know his father?

MICHAEL No.

LUCKNER Karl Kircheiss was my best officer. A great seaman and (needling Kurt)a POET!!! Which explains why his son is such a

7 fine writer. Kurt’s father died a few years ago. So, he is the son I never had. And look at him now, by Joe.

KURT (Blushes) The real story is the Sea Devil.

LUCKNER (Lifts the cognac) To you, my son. And your father.

They all three drink the cognac down in one shot. KURT motions to MICHAEL.

MICHAEL Right. (Shuffles for, finds and gets out a pad and pen.)

LUCKNER So, let’s really give your readers something. In the beginning – there was light! (He blasts a deep laugh)

DISSOLVE as V.O. CONTINUES

LUCKNER (VO) Some centuries later, however, a boy was born on an estate in Halle, Saxony in Germany. The son of Count von Luckner, great-great grandson of a Marshal of Napoleon.

EXT. - A panorama of a large estate. The grounds are distinct, beautiful but with Prussian order – everything in its place. It is late afternoon and the sun is turning the fields and the forests melting green to vibrant gold.

A handsome boy of 12 or 13 is sitting under a tree reading a book with “Buffalo Bill” on the cover. This is young FELIX LUCKNER. He reads intently and turns a page.

EXT. – FRONT DOOR OF MANOR HOUSE. A prim, trim, severe looking SCHOOLMASTER in winged collar, frock coat and hat, approaches the front door and rings the doorbell. The door

8 opens to reveal a MAID. She recognizes the SCHOOLMASTER and motions him inside. The door closes.

INT –ENTRYWAY. The MAID leaves the shot, her footsteps the only sound. The SCHOOLMASTER takes off his hat and adjusts his tie in the hall mirror. The MAID re-enters the shot.

MAID Count von Luckner will see you now, Herr Professor.

INT -- LIBRARY. The doors open to reveal COUNT von LUCKNER (FATHER) sitting at his desk. Mrs. Von LUCKNER (MOTHER) sits reading in an arm chair. The SCHOOLMASTER takes a few steps into the room and waits. The MAID exits and closes the doors. A clock ticks. No one moves for several seconds. FATHER looks up from his desk.

FATHER So, Herr Professor. What news of his progress?

SCHOOLMASTER (Awkwardly, haltingly, searching for words) A – truly - beguiling, young man. Very bright. (Beat) But I have never met such an obstinate, unruly, incorrigible, ruffian as your son. He simply will not apply himself. (Realizing he is out on a limb) If I may ---

FATHER -- be so bold, hmmm???

MOTHER He is still a boy. And quite a lovely boy at that.

FATHER We all have fanciful thoughts.

9 SCHOOLMASTER He is not a child. (Gaining guts) Count von Luckner, I cannot – with good conscience, continue as Felix’s tutor.

FATHER (Heat rising in his voice) Then you have failed at your duty?

SCHOOLMASTER I have tried for two years. Mathematics, science, history, literature, the classics – he rejects – everything! All he wants to do is read cheap, adventure tales. Pirates. Cowboys and Indians. Then –

FATHER -- Then you must try harder, mustn’t you, Herr Professor?

The SCHOOLMASTER walks over to the window and points out.

SCHOOLMASTER There! You see that?

FELIX is running around shooting an imaginary pistol at equally imaginary soldiers. FELIX tumbles and shoots again. He scampers up a tree and starts shouting. The FATHER watches.

SCHOOLMASTER (CONT’D) Nothing I do will change that. That is your son, sir.

FATHER sparks. An idea forms. He smiles, walks up to the SCHOOLMASTER. Then very close, face-to-face, conspiratorially.

FATHER Nothing? He must prepare for a career in the Imperial Army. You work with him through his Examinations. I will work from another angle. And there will

10 be a little something extra in your wages. (Beat) Now, my wife and I have an engagement. Aufwiedersehn, Herr Professor.

INT. ENTRYWAY. FATHER walks the SCHOOLMASTER to the door. The SCHOOLMSTER bows slightly and walks out.

EXT. The door closes. The SCHOOLMASTER is standing on the front steps looking over at young FELIX. Their eyes meet. Freeze. A look of mutual contempt on each face. The SCHLOOLMASTER awakens, walks down the steps and out of the scene. Young FELIX watches him leave.

LUCKNER (VO) God, how I despised that man. But by Joe he was right!

INT. – BAR. LUCKNER, MICHAEL, and KURT together at the table.

LUCKNER I couldn’t find my way out of a schoolhouse if it were on fire! But then my father came to the rescue.

INT- The library again, this time in the evening. The gas lamps are on and there is a fire going in the fireplace. FATHER sits in an easy chair, MOTHER again in hers. Young FELIX is sprawled out on the floor reading by the firelight.

MOTHER Schatzi, you are going to ruin your eyes. What is that?

FELIX ‘Two years Before the Mast’ by R.H. Dana.

FATHER Ach! It should be Napoleon’s Generals. It’s time to prepare yourself for the Cavalry.

11 FELIX But Father. I want to go to sea.

FATHER (With control not anger) Nonsense. There is nothing nobler than to wear the uniform of an Imperial Officer. (He puts down his own book) Come here son.

FELIX rises and stands near his FATHER’s chair.

FATHER I had a talk with your schoolmaster today. He said you will never conquer your studies.

FELIX He is a bore. A vile little man. He smells of fish. He looks like an Albatross.

FATHER (Trying not to smile) Yes, well. I think, if you study hard and do well on your examinations this time – your mother and I have consented to let you spend the summer with your cousin.

LUCKNER (VO) By Joe - a whole summer of Jesse James and Buffalo Bill with Cousin Rolf.

Felix jumps and lets out a war whoop.

FATHER (Cont’d) Then off to your room and get cracking.

FELIX runs over and hugs MOTHER.

FELIX Good night Mother. (Moves to FATHER) Good night Father.

12

FATHER and MOTHER Good night, son.

FELIX bounds out of the scene. MOTHER looks over at FATHER.

MOTHER Well?

FATHER I feel like I made a deal with the devil.

MOTHER Yes. But he is our devil.

INT – CLASSROOM. Dozens of boys are seated sternly at their desks. It is a severe scene.

SCHOOLMASTER Gentlemen, your examinations are here. You may pick up your booklets as you leave.

A rousing cheer lifts the room from its dour climate to the jubilant rush of young men as they push forward to see the results of their year’s labor. Chaos ensues as the bys grabs their exam booklets, skim the first page and see their grades. The group of locusts then dash out to the warm spring day excited about their accomplishments. Soon the room is deserted except for FELIX and the SCHOOLMASTER. FELIX rises from his desk, walks slowly forward and picks up his ‘bluebook.’ He opens the first page. Freeze. Hold here please.

SCHOOLMASTER So, what do you have to say for yourself (with some venom) Felix, Count von Luckner?

FELIX looks up from his bluebook. His face moves from failure to disgust to anger, and then finally, a huge smile forms on his face. He absolutely radiates.

FELIX Albatross……….

13

The SCHOOLMASTER is completely baffled. FELIX walks triumphantly out of the classroom. The SCHOOLMASTER stares uncomprehendingly and then starts mumbling to himself.

LUCKNER (VO) And that was the end of my early schooling. Poor sod. Never did figure it out. He died in 1934. The doctor said his last words were …‘albatross.’

Cut - INT. – LOUNGE

LUCKNER On that June day in 1894 I walked home, told my parents I had passed, packed my suitcase and walked down to the train station.

EXT – TRAIN STATION. We see FELIX purchase a ticket and board a train. The train pulls out and we see various shots of FELIX watching the countryside pass by.

LUCKNER (VO) Not to my cousin’s, but to on the German coast. I always felt bad about lying to my parents. But I was free from school, at last. I was going to sea, and someday by Joe, I would return to my family in uniform of an officer of the !!!!

DISSOLVE – EXT. BUSY CITY STREETS IN A COASTAL TOWN. FELIX is lugging a suitcase as he tries to maneuver through the crowded, manic, filthy streets of Kiel. He is dodging carts, horses, sailors hauling gear and supplies. The scene is chaotic and noisy!!! This is a busy port. CAPTION- June 1894. FELIX walks up the brow of a ship, drops his bag on the quarterdeck in front of a small desk and a surly- looking old sailor.

14 SAILOR (Looking up with one eye at the ragamuffin FELIX.) Ja? What ship?

FELIX This will be my first. In a long career – of course.

SAILOR (Musters up a large quantity of phlegm and spits over the side. Gesturing to FELIX’s bag) Your kit?

FELIX Ja. Everything I will need for years.

SAILOR (Laughs mockingly) And with a body like that – the first gale we hit – you will be blown over the side.

CUT to dock. FELIX lands in a puddle. A cart rolls by splashing him. FELIX starts to rise, dripping with water and mud. His bag lands in the puddle next to him. A sailor swings a load he is carrying and knocks Felix down.

EXT. - SAILOR over the side.

SAILOR Come back when you are a sailor. Not an aristocrat.

EXT. - FELIX in puddle. The SAILOR laughs broadly. FELIX is furious. He reaches for his bag. A boot steps on his hand and traps it there. FELIX winces.

OLD PETER (V.O.) Hurt?

FELIX What a bastard!

OLD PETER Well, to be a sailor, you must learn to take more than this.

15 OLD PETER reaches down and grabs FELIX by the collar, picks him up off his feet. FELIX starts kicking and screaming.

POV – The pier looking up at SAILOR on deck.

SAILOR What have you caught there?

POV - from Deck down to OLD PETER and FELIX

OLD PETER Looks like I landed a guppy.

SAILOR Can you eat him?

OLD PETER Nein. This one isn’t even bait.

SAILOR (Laughing) Throw him back ‘til he’s bigger.

OLD PETER (To FELIX) Now, what shall I do with you? Throw you in? (Picks up FELIX and holds him over the waterside of the wharf)

FELIX cries out.

OLD PETER (CONT’D) Nein. You are pretty scrappy. Looks like I’ll have to train you, fatten you up – AND THEN THROW YOU BACK !!! (Threatens again over the water)

OLD PETER tucks the squirming FELIX under his arm, grabs the suitcase and walks off down the wharf.

INT – Darkened room. A lantern burns on the table. OLD PETER is eating. FELIX stares cautiously at OLD PETER

LUCKNER (V.O.) He went by Old Peter. A sailor

16 for 43 years, he was now a landlubber – an invalid. He lived with Greta who ran a pub. Peter took up with her when he came home from sea for the last time.

GRETA You must eat liebchen. Get some Meat on those bones.

OLD PETER (Slaps Greta on the ass and pulls her to him.) I thought I was fine for you.

GRETA Not you. (Pulls herself away, laughing. (Ladles some food into FELIX’s plate) This young bird.

OLD PETER (Smiling) She’s the best. Everything a sailor could want – AND NEED!!! (He reaches for GRETA again. She let’s out a start and then laughs. He laughs too, lustily. Turns back to FELIX) That’s my reward for 43 hard years at sea. A hot bed!!! (Sees that FELIX doesn’t understand the sexual attraction yet. He picks up his pipe. Lights it.) Why did you want to go to sea?

FELIX I’ve read much about it. It sounds – exciting.

OLD PETER (Sarcastically) Exciting? It’s horrible. Endless days followed by longer nights. Years of boredom broken by seconds of absolute terror. Exciting is not the word that comes to my mind. Pipe?

17 FELIX (Emboldening) Sure.

OLD PETER fills a bowl and hands it to FELIX. He lights it. FELIX inhales and sputters, then coughs. OLD PETER smiles.

OLD PETER You must condition your lungs, your eyes, your arms and legs, your hearing, your smell. Everything tough. Strong to help you think. Think what is all around you. Use it all to keep you alive.

FELIX Alive?

OLD PETER Ja. (Rises. Crosses to a window and looks out. He limps) It’s peaceful, eh? The sea? Looks tranquil form shore. The color, the rhythm, the breezes. It hypnotizes. Away from the shore – It can kill you. Or maim you. (Back to the table. Sits. ) Whatever, it infects you for life.

FELIX (Acknowledging OLD PETERS leg) How did that happen?

OLD PETER I was Bos’n on a Brigantine and we were rounding Cape Horn, the worst stretch of water on mother earth. The skies grew dark, the sea confused, then fierce. The gales came in – the barometer dropped to the bottom of the glass. I had to send the boys aloft to reef the sheets (seeing he doesn’t understand)– mmmm—haul in the sails – very small – so they

18 wouldn’t fill with wind and break the masts. The seas gave us a horrible pounding, each swell over the bow would hurl us against the bulkheads, the spray would rip open our skin like a whip. In that group was a young boy – about your age – named Franz. He had been with us for eight months, I trained him and he became an able-bodied seaman. Franz came out on deck, white as foam, his legs buckling under him. Scared. The Captain bellowed “All hands aloft, Bos’n!” Franz looked at me and started to move. I grabbed him. He shook loose, looked me square in the eye and said, “All hands Peter.” Then up he went into the howl. I watched him climb – one hand for the ship, one hand for the man – still he moved quickly. Just as he reached the yard, the wind filled the top gallant sheet with a blast and pushed him backwards from the mast. I saw his hand clawing for the yard. He grabbed it and held. Then he looked down at me and smiled. The wind gusted again and I heard the entire mast crack. The massive timber came down, crashing to the deck. The wind grabbed Franz and he went flying into the gray. The sea took him. Later I realized that the mast had come down on my legs. The surgeon splinted one, but this one was shattered. A bottle of brandy and off it came. To this day I see that boy’s face and wonder how I had failed. If. What hadn’t I told him? I lost that lad. I lost my right leg.

FELIX is mystified and moved by the story.

FELIX Teach me, Peter. I’ll be your

19 new right leg.

OLD PETER (Thinking deeply about this.) So you shall. But tomorrow. Tonight, sleep. Turn in mate.

GRETA comes over and gets FELIX settled on a little sofa. She covers him with a blanket. FELIX cuddles right in and is content.

OLD PETER Good night.

OLD PETER grabs GRETA around her waist, picks up a bottle of liquor and the two stand witching FELIX drift off. He blows out the candle.

DARK

EXT – FELIX sitting on barrels along the city docks. They are tying knots.

LUCKNER (VO) We started right out. Everything I would need to know. Old Peter was tough and thorough. Some things I mastered quickly.

EXT – FELIX swimming. He is tethered with a long line, trashing about, OLD PETER tending the line. FELIX goes under, OLD PETER yanks him up.

LUCKNER (VO) Some things mastered me.

EXT – OLD PETER showing FELIX how to throw a monkey’s fist. It wraps around FELIX, tangling him up. OLD PETER laughs.

EXT – FELIX climbing rope ladders, losing his balance and winding upside-down, feet hanging from the rigging. Again OLD PETER laughs. He helps FELIX right himself and shows him the proper foothold.

OLD PETER “…One hand for the ship…”

20

FELIX “…One hand for the Man!” (Laughs)

LUCKNER (VO) And always the talks. As each day’s lessons ended, he would provide me the Gospel according to Peter

EXT – Sunset. OLD PETER and FELIX walking along the beach. OLD PETER sits down laboriously and groaning, while FELIX throws shells out into the surf. OLD PETER watches contently, the wind whipping his hair. FELIX runs up to him, closer and still throwing shells. Seagulls are making their final evening passes nearby. A very large seagull lands on a stanchion. FELIX takes aim and throws, hitting the seagull.

OLD PETER (Losing his temper) FELIX!!! (Jumps up and knocks FELIX down).

FELIX is laid out on the sand, stunned and puzzled.

OLD PETER Never do that again!!! Hear me? NEVER!!!

FELIX It’s just a gull.

OLD PETER calms down. Sits down by FELIX. Puts his arms around FELIX to reassure and regain his rapport with FELIX.

OLD PETER It is a sea bird. Sacred.

FELIX A filthy, garbage chasing gull, Peter.

OLD PETER Gulls, pelican, albatross – they can fly hundreds of miles out to sea – and when they congregate, FELIX – It is over land. They have pointed the way home to sailors

21 for thousands of years.

FELIX But I thought the albatross was a bad omen.

OLD PETER Legend. The ancient mariner killed one and had to wear it around his neck. It was his penance. Someday, you may need those birds. (Sees the setting sun dipping below the horizon.) Sailor’s come back as birds.

Silhouette of an OSPREY in flight.

OLD PETER There he is. The old master himself.

FELIX What is it?

OLD PETER An Osprey. The Sea Eagle. A most deadly hunter. He can spot his dinner from the clouds, drop like a rock, grabbing the kill in his talons. Then he flies back to his nest to feed his family.

Again an osprey in flight.

OLD PETER (CONT’D) Good hunting, mate (To FELIX) Come. Greta will serve us up if we spoil her sauerbraten.

We see the two walking back to the town

INT. - OLD PETER’S table.

GRETA More, liebchen?

FELIX Nein danke. I feel like a whale.

22

GRETA Peter? What for you?

OLD PETER (Winking) The usual, but later. (Laughs ) Greta. I think it is time to initiate our young mate.

GRETA But –

OLD PETER (knowingly) Greta. Bring it.

GRETA brings a bottle off the shelf. She hands it to OLD PETER along with two glasses.

OLD PETER You, too, Greta

GRETA grabs another glass. OLD PETER fills them, adds some water.

OLD PETER Rum and water – grog. (He lifts the glass. They all follow his lead.) To our – Mate !!!

They all dink. FELIX sputters then composes himself. OLD PETER pours another one for FELIX and himself. GRETA withdraws.

GRETA Now, before you get carried away, FELIX, I have packed you things for you.

GRETA is hesitant, then he bolsters up the courage to reach down and hug FELIX. She holds him for a tender moment. FELIX responds.

GRETA (CONT’D) Now, you men tell your tales. But Peter, he needs his sleep for tomorrow.

23 OLD PETER Yes, my love. Just a few stories. Sweet dreams.

GRETA exits, leaving FELIX and OLD PETER hunched over their drinks in the weak lamplight.

EXT. Early morning on the piers.

OLD PETER To a young sailor even a scow is beautiful. There is nothing quite as stunning as your first ship.

EXT. OLD SAILOR looking down on OLD ETER AND FELIX walking towards the ship.

OLD SAILOR Well, Bos’n. I see you didn’t eat him.

OLD PETER (Up to the OLD SAILOR) No. Saved him so you could throw him back.

OLD SAILOR Well, young man. Are you coming aboard? We sail in ten minutes. And the Captain – (imitating) “will not be the last man in this stinking port.”

EXT. - Upper deck. The CAPTAIN blocks out the sun.

CAPTAIN You, there. Are we ready to sail?

OLD SAILOR Just checking on our last hand, Cap’n.

CAPTAIN Get on with it!!! I will not be the last man in this stinking port.

24

Close in on OLD PETER and FELIX

OLD PETER Off you go.

OLD PETER holds out his hand. FELIX takes it then opts for a huge hug. They stare at one another for a moment. FELIX hoists the sea chest over his shoulder and goes up the gangplank. He stops in front of the OLD SAILOR who glowers at him. They size each other up for a minute.

OLD SAILOR (With pen in hand. About to enter it in the log) Name?

LUCKNER (VO) Hit me like a gale. They might recognize my name. They would know I was a Count.

FELIX Leudike. Phelax Leudike.

LUCKNER (VO) My mother’s maiden name.

OLD SAILOR (Spelling it out, slowly and awkwardly) L- E- U- D- I- K- E. Now, get below, Leudike. Stow your gear.

FELIX Aye.

EXT. - FELIX looking over the rail at OLD PETER. Much scurrying around deck.

CAPTAIN Bos’n, get this ship out of this stinking harbor, NOW !!!

FELIX waves at OLD PETER, then dashes off.

OLD PETER (Watching as the massive sailing

25 ship slips out of the harbor.) Farewell, Felix Leudike. Fair winds and following seas, my son.

The wind catches the sails and soon the ship is free of all land. OLD PETER watches for a moment and then walks off.

INT. – COURT of KAISER WILHELM. POV – waist-high view of the arm of a Naval Lieutenant Commander (Korvettenkapitan). It extends and places a calling card on a silver plate. We move with the swagger of the arm as it crosses the threshold into a formal but busy room filled with Navy Officers in uniform and an occasional woman. They are all drinking and talking. The arm brings von LUCKNER into view as he approaches a small circle of Navy Officers talking and laughing at the joke of an obviously important man with his back to us.

LUCKNER It’s not that funny.

The group is stunned and silent.

LUCKNER (Continues) I was told to report here immediately. What’s so important that I should leave my ship and come to this frivolous affair, listening to bad jokes told by some Army General disguised as a Navy Officer!

KAISER He turns abruptly and scowls at LUCKNER.)I should reprimand you for your tardiness and have you shot or being a traitor to the Army … And joining the Navy!!!

The KAISER and LUCKNER both eye one another. Wait a beat. The tension in the room is HUGE. The KAISER reaches out his hand and absolutely beams.

26

KAISER Von Luckner! You haven’t changed. Still thumbing your nose at everything and everyone, royal. Even you!

LUCKNER clicks his heels together and bows as he takes the KAISER’s hand.

LUCKNER If I didn’t, you would take all this too seriously. I did too, but I went to confession, repented my nobility, and now I am a virtuous Sailor. You cannot be absolved.

The others assembled are appalled. The KAISER lets out a laugh and the other officers open up with sycophantic laughs as well.

KAISER No, unfortunately I suppose not. Now, on to the reason for your visit. The Admiralty tells me that the war at sea isn’t going well either. Like the trenches we face in France, the sea war is a stalemate. The British have blockaded our Fleet so we’re tucked-in for the winter.

LUCKNER Then run the blockade. Run it and raid and sink their commercial vessels. Strangle them while they try to strangle us.

KAISER These fine Gentlemen of the Admiralty tell me a steam Raider would be chewed-up before it ever reached the British blockade line. You can see the smoke miles away.

LUCKNER Sailing ships make no smoke.

27 KAISER I suggested the very same idea to the Admiralty and they said it was madness to attempt running the blockade with a sailing ship. What do you think?

LUCKNER (A huge, broad smile) Well, your Majesty, if our Admiralty says It’s impossible and ridiculous, then I’m sure it can be done.

The assembled OFFICERs bristle and buzz at this.

LUCKNER (Continues) But the British Admiralty will think it’s impossible, too. They won’t be looking for something as absurd as a raider disguised as a harmless old sailing ship.

KAISER (Absorbing the words and the Enjoying event as it unfolds). You’re right, Luckner. Go ahead.

The KAISER smiles again, nods to the officers assembled, and exits. The other Naval Officers turn and talking in hushed tones, exit as well, with furtive looks back at LUCKNER.

LUCKNER (VO) I knew the Admiralty would hear what happened. They didn’t like me. The Kaiser and I went way back. But they wouldn’t stand in my way or my mission with Seeadler since crossing me would be tantamount to crossing the Kaiser himself. But I knew I had burned my last bridge with the Admiralty. Fail now and I had no allies. I was adrift and the sharks, circling.

28 EXT – SHIPYARD. CAPTION – “KIEL. NOVEMBER 1917.” We see lots of activity on the piers, cranes, vehicles, etc. all in constant, frenetic movement. It is n industrial scene, lots of steam hissing, piles of refuse and garbage, and provisions. It is a chaotic and filthy scene.

We see a clipper ship pierside, lines extending to bollards on the pier, shore service cables and other umbilicals running between the pier and the ship. “HERO” is painted on her transom.

On deck is a Sailor on watch. A lone figure walks powerfully with singular focus down the pier towards the gangway of the clipper ship. As he gets closer to the HERO the SAILOR rises, catches this figure’s intent and bolts below deck to the Officer’s Country. He pounds on a stateroom door.

INT – STATEROOM. KLING is working at his desk.

KLING Come.

The SALOR enters. Uncovers (takes off his watch cap).

SAILOR I think it’s him.

KLING rises, grabs his own hat, squares it in a mirror, then pushes past the SAILOR who closes the door behind them. They scurry up to the quarterdeck.

LUCKNER nearly vaults and bounds up the gangway to the quarterdeck. KLING and the SALOR salute. LUCKNER looks at them. Beat. He scans the ship. Beat. Slowly returns the salute to KLING.

KLING Count von Luckner.

LUCKNER Captain. Anyone can be a ‘Count.’

They don’t seem to get his quip. An awkward moment here please. KLING breaks the tension.

29 KLING Leutnant Alfred Kling. (He bows).

LUCKNER Kling? You’re the Kling that was to have this ship, eh? An Admiralty boy?

KLING I wouldn’t know about that, ‘Captain.’ (Pause) May I offer you some tea to warm up?

LUCKNER No. But I will take a cognac. The British drink tea. Pathetic. Great Sailors. Lousy drinkers. Cognac or schnapps takes the Atlantic chill out of my bones.

KLING Uh, this way to my cabin – your Cabin, Captain.

KLING starts to lead the way but LUCKNER steps in first.

LUCKNER I know my way around a clipper ship, Kling. This is my sixth.

LUVKNER disappears below decks, KLING looks at the SAILOR, shrugs resignedly, then he too, goes below.

INT. – LUCKNER and KLING sitting at a desk reviewing files. Stacks of them are strewn all over the place.

LUCKNER (VO) We had to assemble a crew that We could rely on. We had free reign to hand-select our officers and sailors. We screened, compared, re-screened, and found the exact skills for a mission unlike any other.

INT. – LUCKNER interviewing each Sailor, a variety of sizes, composition, lean, hearty, tall, short, etc. Some

30 so large or tall they fill the screen, others so diminutive they might fall over in a stiff wind.

LUCKNER (VO) We looked for men with sail experience, men who had been to sea on square-riggers, clippers, barques, brigantines, sloops, the like. These were perishing skills in the days of steam and steel ships. I needed iron men for my wooden ship. I wanted men who would go through hell with me. Kling and I even matched personalities to find a crew who would sail, laugh, live, fight, and die for one another. But mostly I needed me who would die for me.

31 Felix Graf von Luckner (born , Germany, 9 June 1881, died Malmö, , 13 April 1966) was a German nobleman, navy officer, author and noted sailor who earned the epithet Der Seeteufel (the Sea-Devil) -- and his crew that of Die Piraten des Kaisers (the Emperor's Pirates) -- for his exploits in command of the sailing commerce raider SMS Seeadler (Sea Eagle) in 1916-1917.

It was his habit of successfully waging war without any casualties that made him a hero and a legend on both sides.

He was the great-grandson of Nicolas Luckner, Marshal of France and commander-in-chief of the French Army of the Rhine, who had been elevated to count in the 18th century by the King of .

He was married twice, firstly to Petra (née Schultz) from with whom he had a daughter, Inge-Maria, born in 1913. In Malmö, Sweden on September 24, 1924 he married Ingeborg (née Engeström).

Early life

At the age of thirteen, Luckner ran away from home to see Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. He signed up, under the assumed name of "Phylax Lüdecke", as an unpaid cabin boy on the Russian sailing ship Niobe travelling between Hamburg (Germany) and Australia. His story might have ended there, because the Russian captain, fearing that the lives of other crew members would be endangered, refused to allow a lifeboat to be launched in order to pick up Luckner when he fell overboard in the middle of the ocean. The chief mate defied the captain (who had threatened him with a harpoon), and launched a lifeboat with the help of volunteers. As a number of albatrosses circled over Luckner, one swooped down and seized his outstretched hand in its beak but Luckner grabbed the bird in desperation. Although pecked severely, he hung on for his life. The flapping of the bird's huge wings and the circling of the other albatrosses gave the crew of the lifeboat a point to aim at in his rescue.

Jack-of-all-trades

Arriving at Fremantle, , he jumped ship and for seven years followed a bewildering array of occupations: seller of the Salvation Army's War Cry, assistant lighthouse keeper at the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse in Augusta W.A. (a job he abandoned when discovered with his hotel keeper's daughter by her father), kangaroo hunter, circus worker, professional boxer due to his exceptional strength, fisherman, seaman, a guard in the Mexican army for President Díaz, railway construction worker, barman, and tavern keeper. He served a short time in a Chilean jail accused of stealing pigs, suffered broken legs twice, and was thrown out of hospital in for lack of money.

Luckner was also an accomplished magician – Kaiser Wilhelm was fascinated by his tricks and frequently invited Luckner aboard his yacht to entertain important dignitaries.

32 Back in Germany

At the age of twenty he entered a German navigation training school, where he passed the examinations for his mate's commission. By 1908 he had joined the Hamburg-Südamerikanisch Line steamer Petropolis, intending to serve for nine months before volunteering to serve in the Imperial Navy for a year, to obtain a naval commission. He had vowed not to return to his family except in uniform and was eventually welcomed back by his family, who had given him up for lost. He was finally called up by the Navy in February 1912 and served on the SMS Panther.

World War I

In the early part of the war, Felix von Luckner saw action at the Battle of Heligoland Bight, and during the Battle of Jutland he commanded a gun turret aboard the battleship Kronprinz Wilhelm.

At the beginning of the First World War, Germany converted a considerable number of merchant ships into merchant raiders by equipping them with guns and sending them in search of Allied merchant shipping. Most of the armed raiders were not particularly successful, but they did tie up considerable Allied forces in hunting them. By early 1915, most of the armed raiders had either been hunted down and sunk or had run out of fuel and been interned in neutral ports.

Hoping to revive commerce raiding, the Imperial Navy equipped the impounded three-masted sailing ship Pass of Balmaha (1571 tons) with two 105 mm guns hidden behind hinged gunwales, several machine guns, and two carefully hidden 500 HP auxiliary engines. She was commissioned as the auxiliary Seeadler (Sea Eagle). As virtually the only officer in the German Navy with extensive experience of large sailing ships, Luckner was appointed her commander.

The Voyage of Seeadler

Seeadler left port on 21 December 1916 and managed to slip through the British blockade disguised as a Norwegian ship. Many of the crew of 6 officers and 57 men were selected for the ability to speak Norwegian, including Luckner, in case they were intercepted by the British. By Christmas Day, she was southwest of Greenland, when she encountered the British armed merchant cruiser Avenger. Avenger put an inspection party aboard, but failed to detect the German deception.

On 9 January 1917, Seeadler came upon a single-funneled steamer. She raised a signal requesting a time signal (not an uncommon thing for a sailing ship long out of contact with land to do), and too late for evasive action, raised the German ensign. Three shots were needed to persuade the 3,268 ton Gladys Royle, carrying coal from to , to stop. Her crew was taken off unharmed, and she was scuttled.

On 10 January 1917, Seeadler encountered another steamship, which refused to identify itself. The German ensign was raised and a shot fired across the bow of the Lundy Island, carrying sugar from Madagascar. The steamer still refused to stop, and four shots were fired directly at her. The steamer hove to and lowered its boats, but its captain ignored an order to come to Seeadler. A German boarding party was sent over and discovered that the crew had abandoned ship when the first shots were fired, leaving the captain alone. Later, Captain Bannister told Luckner that he had previously been captured by a German raider, and had given his parole which he had broken; thus he was not anxious to be a prisoner of war again. Luckner continued his voyage southwards, and by 21 January, he was in mid-Atlantic between and West Africa when he found the 2,199 ton French three-masted barque Charles Gounod, loaded with corn.

33 Charles Gounod was quickly dispatched, but her log book recorded information about other ships she had met and their intended route.

On 24 January, the small 364-ton Canadian Perce was met and sunk by machine gun fire, after taking off her crew (and her captain's new bride). The 3,071 ton French four-master Antonin, loaded with Chilean saltpetre, was overhauled on 3 February and soon scuttled. On 9 February, the 1,811 ton Italian Buenos Ayres, also carrying saltpetre, was sunk. On 19 February, a four-masted barque was spotted, which immediately piled on sail in an effort to get away; however, Seeadlers engines allowed her to overhaul the 2,431 ton British Pinmore, carrying a cargo of grain. By coincidence, von Luckner had sailed in Pinmore in his civilian sailing days, back in 1902. Von Luckner took Pinmore into in order to get more supplies, before eventually her.

The next ship to be stopped was the Danish barque Viking, but as there was nothing unusual about its cargo the neutral ship was allowed to proceed unmolested.

On the morning of 26 February, the 1,953 ton British barque British Yeoman, carrying a welcome cargo including chickens and pigs, was stopped and sunk, and the same evening the French four-master Le Rochfoucauld fell victim to the Seeadler. The boarding party discovered Le Rochfoucauld had only recently been stopped by a British cruiser which was looking for Seeadler.

On the evening of 5 March, Seeadler discovered a four-masted barque in the moonlight and signalled "Stop immediately! German Cruiser". Bizarrely, the captain of the 2,206 ton French ship Dupleix rowed across to Seeadler, convinced another French captain was playing a practical joke on him. He was soon disabused of the idea when his ship was scuttled. Seeadlers next victim on 10 March was asked for the time, but ignored the signal. Von Luckner ordered a smoke generator to be lit, and the 3,609 ton Horngarth turned back to render assistance to the 'burning' sailing ship. A single shot put the British ship's radio out of commission, and this resulted in the only loss of life in the Seeadler 's voyage. A British sailor, Douglas Page, was killed by a steam pipe ruptured by the shot. Horngarth was soon scuttled by Seeadlers now experienced crew.

By this time, von Luckner had the problem of feeding and keeping safe nearly 300 prisoners, in addition to his own crew. Consequently, when on 20 March, the French four-masted barque Cambronne was captured, von Luckner arranged for the ship's topgallant mast and additional spars and sails to be removed, before putting his prisoners aboard Cambronne under the command of Captain Mullen of Pinmore. The much- reduced rigging on Cambronne ensured Seeadler would be able to escape before her location could be reported to the hunting ships.

The was well aware of Seeadler's general location and set a trap consisting of the armed merchant cruiser Otranto and the armored Lancaster and Orbita at Cape Horn. However, a severe storm blew Seeadler considerably further south, before she entered the Pacific Ocean on 18 April and sailed north along the Chilean coast. By early June, Seeadler was east of Christmas Island and learned the had entered the war. Seeadler turned her attention to American shipping, sinking the 529 ton A B Johnson of San Francisco on 14 June, the 673 ton R C Slade the next day, and the schooner Manila on 8 July. By this time, Seeadler needed to be laid up so that her could be scraped clean. She put into the small island of Mopelia, also known as Maupihaa, a coral atoll some 10 km (6 mi) in diameter in the Society Islands, some 450 km (280 mi) from .

34 The wreck of Seeadler

Seeadler was too large to enter the sheltered lagoon of Mopelia, and consequently had to anchor outside the reef. On 24 August, disaster struck. According to von Luckner, the ship was struck by a tsunami which wrecked Seeadler on the reef. However, some American prisoners alleged the ship drifted aground while the prisoners and most of the crew were having a picnic on the island.

The crew and their 46 prisoners were now stranded on Mopelia, but they managed to salvage provisions, firearms, and two of the ships' boats.

Hide and seek

Von Luckner decided to sail with five of his men in one of the 10 metre long open boats, rigged as a sloop and named Kronprinzessin Cecilie. Ever the optimist, he intended to sail to via the , capture a sailing ship, return to Mopelia for his crew and prisoners, and resume raiding.

Three days after leaving Mopelia, they reached Atiu Island in the Cook Islands group, where they pretended to be Dutch-American seamen crossing the Pacific for a bet. The New Zealand Resident, the administrator of the island, gave them enough supplies to reach another island in the group, , where they posed as Norwegians. The New Zealand Resident in Aitutaki was suspicious, but had no means of detaining the group, and von Luckner quickly took his party to the island of Rarotonga. Approaching Rarotonga in the dark, Luckner saw a dark ship which he thought was an auxiliary cruiser, but in fact was a beached ship, von Luckner pressed on to the Fijian Wakaya Island, arriving after a voyage of 3,700 km in an open boat. Most people on Wakaya accepted their story of being shipwrecked Norwegians, but one skeptic called a party of police from the old Fijian capital of Levuka. On 21 September, the police bluffed the non-existent gun on the inter-island ferry Amra would blow Luckner out of the water. Not wishing to cause bloodshed, and not realizing police were unarmed, von Luckner and his party surrendered and were confined in a prisoner-of-war camp on Motuihe Island, off , New Zealand.

Meanwhile, back on Mopelia, a small French trading ship Lutece anchored outside the reef. Leutnant Kling of Seeadler, having heard of his captain's capture on the radio, sailed out to Lutece and captured it at gunpoint. The French crew was put ashore with the other prisoners, and all the Germans embarked on the ship, now renamed Fortuna, and set course for South America. The master of A B Johnson, Captain Smith, then took the remaining open boat from Mopelia with three other American seamen, and sailed 1,600 km to , arriving on 4 October, where they were finally able to inform the authorities of the activities of Seeadler and arrange for the rescue of the other 44 sailors still stranded on Mopelia.

Fortuna, meanwhile, came to grief when she struck uncharted rocks off . The crew scrambled ashore, where they were interned by the Chileans for the remainder of the war.

Escape

Von Luckner still refused to accept that the war was over for him. The commander of the POW camp at Motuihe had a fast motor boat, Pearl, at his disposal, and on 13 December 1917, von Luckner faked setting up a play for Christmas with his men and used his provisions for the play to plan his escape. Von Luckner and a number of other prisoners seized Pearl and made for the Coromandel Peninsula. Using a machine gun, he then seized the 90 ton scow Moa and, with the help of a handmade sextant and a map copied from a school atlas,[2] they sailed for the Kermadec Islands, which was a New Zealand provision island, with larger ships anchored there. A pursuing auxiliary ship, Iris, had guessed his probable destination and caught up with him on 21 December. A year after his mission began, the war finally ended for Felix von Luckner. He spent the remainder of the war in various POW camps in New Zealand before being repatriated to Germany in 1919.

35 Postwar life

On 12 May 1921, Luckner became a Freemason of the Lodge Zur goldenen Kugel (Große Landesloge von Deutschland) in Hamburg. He wrote a book of his adventures which became a best-seller in Germany, and Lowell Thomas' book about him spread Luckner's fame widely.

In 1926 he raised funds to buy a sailing ship which he called Vaterland and set out on a goodwill mission around the world leaving on September 19 and arriving in New York on October 22, 1926. An entertaining speaker, he was widely admired for his seamanship and for having fought his war with minimal loss of life. This opened him many doors in the United States where he spoke on hundreds of occasions across the country, both in German and, later, increasingly English. He won the support of many notables, diplomats, politicians and even the American Legion. presented him with a motor car and the city of San Francisco made him an honorary citizen. President Coolidge wanted to meet him but Luckner declined at the request of his government. Feeling that his "goodwill mission", as he called it in his travelogue Seeteufel erobert Amerika ("Sea-devil conquers America"), could neither have greater success elsewhere nor could be financially sustained by the income as speaker however popular and successful he returned to Germany where he arrived on April 19, 1928.

He was a frequent visitor to the Heydrich home in Halle where he inspired a young , with stories of his adventures on Seeadler, to join the inter-war Reichsmarine. In 1937 and 1938, he and his wife undertook a round-the-world voyage in his yacht Seeteufel, being welcomed in New Zealand and Australia, though some viewed him as an apologist for the Nazi regime.

During the Second World War, Hitler tried to use him for propaganda purposes, though, as a Mason, he was not in one of the Nazi's favoured groups of people. He was implicated in a scandal, and put on trial before a 'Sonderehrengericht' (Special Court of Honor), in 1939, for incest and having sexual congress with a minor, but he was never convicted It is said that his retirement from public life was a condition for the discontinuation of the trial.] Luckner refused to renounce his membership of the Masons or the various honorary citizenships granted in the US, and consequently he suffered by having his bank account frozen. In 1943, he saved the life of a Jewish woman, Rose Janson, whom he provided with a passport he found on a bombsite, and who subsequently managed to escape to the US via a neutral country. At the end of the war, the mayor of Halle, where he was living, asked him to negotiate the town's surrender to the approaching American forces, which he did, though he did not return to the town after hearing that the Nazis had condemned him to death.

Luckner was extremely strong and was noted for his ability to bend coins between his thumb, index and middle finger of his right hand and to tear up telephone directories (the thickest being that of New York) with his bare hands. Luckner was a prolific autograph signer, and original Luckner autographs turn up frequently at auctions and estate sales.

After the Second World War, Luckner moved to Sweden, where he lived in Malmö with his Swedish second wife Ingeborg Engeström, until his death in Malmö at the age of 84 in 1966. He is buried in Main Cemetery Ohlsdorf, Hamburg.

36 Writing

Count von Luckner wrote the introduction for Alfred von Niezychowski's book The Cruise of the Kronprinz Wilhelm, 1928, published by Doubleday & Company, about the auxiliary cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm (Note: though she had the same name, this was a different ship from the Kronprinz Wilhelm that Count von Luckner was on during the Battle of Jutland)

TV series

Between 1973 and 1975 a French-German Co-Production company produced a 39-episode adventure series entitled "Graf Luckner" for the German ARD television network, featuring Luckner as the hero. The French alternate title was "Les Aventures du Capitaine Luckner".

Episode 26 of the TV series Tales from Te Papa featured the sextant used by von Luckner in his escape attempt from New Zealand.[3]

The Count Felix von Luckner Society

On 29 March 2004 the society "Felix Graf von Luckner Gesellschaft e. V." was founded in Halle, with the objective of commemorating Luckner's life and work, especially his role in safeguarding the city of Halle during April 1945. The Society also wishes to create a memorial and museum for Luckner in Halle, and to restore Luckners' yacht, Seeteufel, which is currently in a poor condition in Russia. Within a few months of its creation, the Society had over 100 members in 14 countries.

37