The Sea Devil: The Adventures of Count Felix von Luckner, the Last Raider under Sail

by Sam Jefferson

In 1916, a three-masted windjammer bearing Norwegian colours sailed out of a quiet anchorage in Germany, loaded with cargo and apparently bound for Australia. Her true mission was quite different.The ship was, in fact, the SMS Seeadler, commanded by swashbuckling German aristocrat Felix von Luckner. Over an epic voyage, he used cunning and deception to destroy fourteen merchant ships, all the while evading the utterly foxed and infuriated British Admiralty in a daring game of cat and mouse.This rip-roaring World War I story depicts a life of espionage, counterespionage and piracy of the most gentlemanly kind.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War I, War, Nautical, Germany, 20th Century

265 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 7, 2017

Reviews

[John Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fascinating and (mostly) true story of a remarkable man with both a sense of adventure, duty, and humanity. Too many ‘incredible real life stories’ are not nearly as incredible as the book cover reviews claim, but this one holds up. With seafaring debauchery, bring marooned on an island, escaping a prison camp, and running blockades in a windjammer, this is one of the most interesting works of non-fiction I’ve read. There is, however, an older book by the same title that Count Felix wrote in his day that is an embellished dictation of his adventures. This version is the more accurate, fact checked version.

[Astor Teller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Count Felix von Luckner’s adventure as a pirate (prize captain) on a sailing ship during World War 1 sounds like a tall tale, but the author splits facts from fiction (von Luckner liked to make a good story better) as we set sail with the windjammer Seeadler to capture and sink enemy ships to end up on the Pacific Island Mopelia along with Gladys Taylor, who ran away from home (Mossyrock, Washington) to experience adventure, which she got in droves after the ship she was a stowaway on, was boarded by von Luckner.

Felix von Luckner was a gentleman captain and took good care of his prisoners from the many ships he boarded, and like a true pirate he preferred showmanship and heists from bloodshed and death (only one causality cropped up during his stint as a prize captain) which is good when it comes to have daring and reckless he could be.

The story is brought to life with the many anecdotes and news articles from the time von Luckner sailed the seas and is well worth the read. If this had been fiction, the story would have been deemed unrealistic, which says something about how good this story is.

[Gareth Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amazing story......it's just not well written.

What should be a rip roaring account of an amazing adventure led by an astounding man, is just bland and almostatter of fact. For example where the their shop runs aground, it's summed up in a few lines. I don't wish to be rude, however I feel the author is more accustom to presenting factual reports as opposed to tales. If, for example, a James Holland or Ben McIntyre wrote this it would be stunning.

[Javier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some errors on text, and reference to some notes missing on chapter 12. Otherwise, very enjoyable.

[Eva Lehmann-Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very familiar with Felix’s adventures. Greatly written book!