The Cruise of the Sea Eagle - Book Review

Richard Story | August 08, 2005  | 0 comments  | Print  | E-mail

Besides a good captain the ship needed a crew, and the crew of the Seeadler was hand picked by the Executive Officer Alfred Kling except the Prize Officer Richard Pries. This would play a pivotal role in the later events that happened to the crew. So with ship ready and crew aboard, the Seeadler left port to nearly run into disaster as they had sailed in the midst of a winter storm to avoid detection. On Christmas Day she was stopped by a British warship, but British miscommunications allowed the Seeadler to escape and to begin pillaging the shipping lanes. The results, for an old sailing ship like the Seeadler, were astounding. She sank 14 ships and captured one more at the cost of only one life. It was only a mischance due to exhaustion that ended the career of the Seeadler. Still this was not the end of the adventures for Captain Luckner. Seeking to rescue his captives and crew from the deserted island; von Luckner took to the sea in the motorized lifeboat. Captured and imprisoned in New Zealand, von Luckner escaped in the Warden’s yacht to only be recaptured. At the end of World War II, von Luckner showed up to work an agreement between the German forces and American forces ready to do battle over his home town. He reached an accord that allowed the Americans to take the town, but saved countless number of lives on both sides. Count Felix von Luckner was a remarkable man by anybody’s standards.

The Cruise of the Sea Eagle by Blaine Pardoe is an extremely well researched and written book. It corrects many of the mistakes in the previous tales of the Seeadler. The only flaw I had was that many of the photographs in the book were time worn and graying. I wondered if the photographs could have been digitally enhanced. I found no grammatical or typographical errors in the book. With a list price of $22.95 for a hardcover book; it represents a good investment for any student of World War I, naval history or anybody seeking a good true life adventure. I recommend the book highly.

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