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{{Short description|German nobleman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=October 2010}}
{{Infobox military person
 | name                 = Felix von Luckner
 | birth_date           = {{birth date|1881|6|09|df=y}}
 | death_date           = {{death date and age|1966|4|13|1881|5|09|df=y}}
 | image                = Luckner.png
 | alt                  = 
 | caption              = 
 | nickname             = Der Seeteufel (The Sea Devil)<br/>Die Piraten des Kaisers (The Emperor's Pirates)
 | birth_place          = [[Dresden]], [[German Empire]]
 | death_place          = [[Malmö]], [[Sweden]]
 | placeofburial_coordinates= 
 | allegiance           = {{flag|German Empire}} (1903-04, 1908-19)<br /> {{flag|Weimar Republic}} (1918–22)
 | branch               = {{navy|German Empire}}<br />{{navy|Weimar Republic}}
 | serviceyears         = 1903–04, 1908-22
 | rank                 = ''[[Korvettenkapitän]]'' ([[Captain (naval)|Captain]])
 | commands             = [[SMS Seeadler (1915)|SMS ''Seeadler'']]<br/>''Kronprinzessin Cecilie'' ([[sloop]])<br/>''[[Niobe (schooner)|Niobe]]'' ([[schooner]])
 | unit                 = {{SMS|Panther|1901|6}}<br/>{{SMS|Kronprinz|1914|6}}
 | battles              = [[World War I]]
* [[Battle of Heligoland Bight (1914)|Battle of Heligoland Bight]]
* [[Battle of Jutland]]
* [[German commerce raiders in World War I|Commerce raiding campaign]]
 | awards               = [[Pour le Mérite]]<br/>[[Iron Cross|Iron Cross 1st Class]]<br/>[[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
 | laterwork            = Sailor, author, memoirist
}}

'''Felix Nikolaus Alexander Georg Graf<ref>{{German title Graf}}</ref> 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 Sea Devil), and his crew that of ''Die Piraten des Kaisers'' (the Emperor's Pirates), for his exploits in command of the sailing [[commerce raiding|commerce raider]] [[SMS Seeadler (1915)|SMS ''Seeadler'']] (''Sea Eagle'') during the [[First World War]]. After the war, Luckner became a war hero in Germany and was renowned around the world for his seamanship and chivalrous conduct during the war, which resulted in a minimal loss of life on both sides.

==Early life==
Luckner was born in [[Dresden]], Germany, the great-grandson of [[Nicolas Luckner]], [[Marshal of France]] and commander-in-chief of the French [[Army of the Rhine (1791–1801)|Army of the Rhine]], who in the 18th century was elevated to the rank of Count (''Graf'') by the [[King of Denmark]].

===First journey===
The young Luckner had dreams of being a sailor, but his father was determined that he should follow the family tradition and go into the [[cavalry]]. After failing his exams at various private schools, at the age of thirteen Luckner ran away to sea, with the promise in his mind that he would not return until he was wearing "the Emperor's naval uniform, and with honour". 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 Luckner up 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 severely pecked, 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.<ref>Lowell Thomas, The Sea Devil, William Heineman Ltd, 1928</ref>

==== Unpaid cabin boy or paid sailor? ====
The description of Luckner's young life travelling the world on sailing ships is taken directly from his 1921 memoir, ''Seeteufel: Abenteuer aus meinem Leben,'' and the English language version, ''Count Luckner, the Sea Devil'', published by the American journalist and broadcaster Lowell Thomas in 1927.

If Luckner had sailed on the ''Niobe'' at the age of thirteen, it would have been 1894 or early 1895. Until mid-1896 there was no Russian ship called ''Niobe.'' At this time Robert Steele of Greenock, Scotland, sold his ship ''Niobe'' to a Finnish company.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lloyds |date=March 2025 |title=Lloyd's Register Foundation |url=https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/archive-library/ships/niobe-1874/search/everywhere:niobe/page/1}}</ref> (Finland was under Russian occupation, so the ship was considered Russian.) 

The ''Niobe'' sailed from Hamburg in April 1897 bound for Australia. If Luckner sailed on this voyage, he would have been nearly sixteen years old. In Luckner's memoir, the ''Niobe''<nowiki/>'s first port of call is Fremantle. But the ''Niobe'' did not call at Fremantle. She sailed directly to Melbourne.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Taylor and Blue |date=March 2025 |title=Looking for Luckner |url=https://maritimeheritage.org.au/documents/MHA%20March%202025%20Journal.pdf |journal=Maritime Heritage Association Journal |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=4}}</ref>   

===Jack-of-all-trades===
The memoir continues... Arriving at [[Fremantle]], [[Western Australia]], Luckner jumped ship and for seven years worked in a bewildering array of occupations: he was a seller of the [[Salvation Army]]'s ''[[The War Cry]]''; an assistant lighthouse keeper at the [[Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse]] in [[Augusta, Western Australia]], a job he abandoned when he was discovered with the lighthouse keeper's daughter by her father; a kangaroo hunter; a circus worker; a professional [[boxing|boxer]] (due to his exceptional strength); a fisherman; a seaman; a guard in the [[Mexican Army]] for [[Porfirio Díaz|President Díaz]], a railway construction worker, a barman, and a tavern keeper. He was incarcerated for a short time in a [[Chile]]an prison accused of stealing pigs, he twice suffered broken legs, and he was thrown out of a hospital in [[Jamaica]] for lack of money.

==== Was Luckner a lighthouse keeper? ====
A careful reading of the Lowell Thomas text shows that Luckner did not claim to be an assistant lightkeeper (an official job title) at Cape Leeuwin, but rather "an assistant to the lightkeeper". 

The German version claims that Cape Leeuwin has 100-metre cliffs and the lighthouse is 100 metres high. Neither is true.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 March 2025 |title=Lighthouses of Australia |url=https://lighthouses.org.au/wa/cape-leeuwin-lighthouse/}}</ref> However, certain other aspects of Luckner's description of Cape Leeuwin do stand up to scrutiny, which suggests that he may have been there at some stage. 

Luckner claims to have sailed on the German flagged ship ''Caesarea''. The ''Caesarea'' called at Flinders Bay in July 1901 to load timber for Liverpool, England.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Taylor and Blue |date=March 2025 |title=Looking for Luckner |url=https://maritimeheritage.org.au/documents/MHA%20March%202025%20Journal.pdf |journal=Maritime Heritage Association Inc Journal |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=4}}</ref> At that time Flinders Bay was a timber port approximately seven kilometres from Cape Leeuwin. This is probably when Luckner  visited the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse, and was inspired to imagine himself as an employee at the lighthouse.  

===Back in Germany===
At the age of twenty, Luckner entered a German navigation training school, where he passed the examinations for his mate's ticket. By 1908 he had joined the [[Hamburg Süd|Hamburg-Südamerikanische Line]] steamer ''Petropolis'', intending to serve for nine months before volunteering to serve in the [[Imperial German 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. In February 1912 Luckner was finally called up by the Navy and served on the gunboat {{SMS|Panther|1901|6}}.

==First World War==
In the early months of the [[World War I|First World War]] Felix von Luckner saw action at the [[Battle of Heligoland (1914)|Battle of Heligoland Bight]] (1914). At the [[Battle of Jutland]] (1916) he commanded a gun turret on board the battleship {{SMS|Kronprinz|1914|2}}.

At the beginning of the War, Germany converted a considerable number of merchant ships into [[merchant raider]]s 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 else had run out of fuel and been interned in neutral ports.

[[Image:SMSSeeadlerFront.PNG|thumb|SMS ''Seeadler'', the three-masted windjammer that raided the Atlantic and Pacific in an age of dreadnoughts (painting by [[Christopher Rave]])]]

Hoping to revive commerce raiding, the Imperial Navy equipped the impounded three-masted sailing ship ''Pass of Balmaha'' (1,571 tons) with two [[10.5&nbsp;cm SK L/45 naval gun|105&nbsp;mm guns]] hidden behind hinged gunwales, several machine guns, and two carefully hidden 500 HP auxiliary engines. She was commissioned as the auxiliary cruiser ''[[SMS Seeadler (1915)|Seeadler]]'' ("Sea Eagle"). As he was almost the only officer in the German Navy with extensive experience of large sailing ships, Luckner was appointed to command her.

===The Voyage of ''Seeadler''===

====Raider====
''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 six officers and 57 men, including Luckner himself, had been selected for their ability to speak [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], in case they were intercepted by the British. By Christmas Day, ''Seeadler'' was southeast of Iceland, where 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, raised a signal requesting a time signal (not an uncommon thing for a sailing ship long out of contact with land to do), and raised the German ensign too late for the target ship to take any evasive action. Three shots were needed to persuade the 3,268 ton ''Gladys Royle'', carrying coal from [[Cardiff]] to [[Buenos Aires]], to heave to. Her crew was taken off unharmed, and she was [[scuttling|scuttled]].

The following day, ''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'', which was carrying sugar from [[Madagascar]]. The steamer still refused to heave to, and Luckner fired four rounds directly at her. The steamer then hove to and lowered her boats, but her 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 on board. Captain Bannister later told Luckner that he had previously been captured by a German raider and had given his [[Parole#Prisoners of war|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 Ocean|Atlantic]] between [[Brazil]] and West Africa when he found the 2,199 ton French three-masted barque ''Charles Gounod'', which was loaded with corn. She 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 schooner ''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'', which was loaded with Chilean [[Sodium nitrate|saltpetre]], was overhauled on 3 February and soon scuttled. On 9 February, the 1,811 ton Italian ''Buenos Aires'', 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, ''Seeadler''{{'s}} engines allowed her to overhaul the 2,431 ton British steamer ''Pinmore'', which was carrying a cargo of grain. By coincidence, Luckner had himself sailed in ''Pinmore'' in his civilian sailing days, back in 1902. He took ''Pinmore'' into [[Rio de Janeiro]] in order to get more supplies, before eventually scuttling her.

The next ship to be stopped was the [[Denmark|Danish]] [[barque]] ''Viking'', but as there was nothing unusual about her cargo the neutral ship was allowed to proceed unmolested.

[[Image:Felixvonluckergermanensign.jpg|thumb|right|290px|The ensign which Luckner would raise on the ''Seeadler'' to convey hostile intent is now on display at the [[Auckland War Memorial Museum]].]]
[[File:Pass of Balmaha later SMS Seeadler.png|thumb|right|290px|Pass of Balmaha later SMS Seeadler]]
[[File:Seeadler SLV Allen Green.jpg|thumb|''Seeadler'' wrecked]]

====More victims====
On the morning of 26 February 1917, the 1,953 ton British barque ''British Yeoman'', carrying a welcome cargo including chickens and pigs, was stopped and sunk; the same evening the French four-master ''Le Rochefoucauld'' fell victim to the ''Seeadler''. The boarding party discovered ''Le Rochefoucauld'' 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. ''Seeadler''{{'s}} next victim on 10 March was asked for the time, but ignored the signal. 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 action; this resulted in the only loss of life in the ''Seeadler''{{'s}} voyage. A British sailor, Douglas Page, was killed when a steam pipe was ruptured by the shot. ''Horngarth'' was soon scuttled by ''Seeadler''{{'s}} now experienced crew.

By this time, 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, Luckner arranged for the ship's [[Topgallant sail|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 [[Royal Navy]] was well aware of ''Seeadler''{{'s}} general location and set a trap consisting of the armed merchant cruisers ''Otranto'' and ''Orbita'' and the armoured cruiser [[HMS Lancaster (1902)|HMS ''Lancaster'']] 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 [[Kiritimati|Christmas Island]] and learned that the United States had entered the war. ''Seeadler'' therefore 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 hull could be scraped clean. She put into the small island of Mopelia, also known as [[Maupihaa]], a coral atoll some {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}} in diameter in the [[Society Islands]], some {{convert|450|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Tahiti.

====Wrecking and stranding====
''Seeadler'' was too large to enter the sheltered lagoon of Mopelia, and consequently had to anchor outside the reef. On 2 August, disaster struck. According to Luckner, the ship was struck by a [[tsunami]] which wrecked her on the reef. However, some American prisoners alleged that 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 ship's boats.

===Hide and seek===
Luckner decided to sail with five of his men in one of the {{convert|10|m|ftin|abbr=on}} long open boats, rigged as a [[sloop]] and named ''Kronprinzessin Cecilie''. Ever the optimist, he intended to sail to [[Fiji]] by way of the [[Cook Islands]], capture a sailing ship, return to Mopelia for his crew and prisoners, and resume his raiding career.

Three days after leaving Mopelia, the seamen reached [[Atiu]] Island, where they pretended to be Dutch-American mariners crossing the Pacific for a bet. The New Zealand [[Resident Commissioner|Resident]], the administrator of the island, gave them enough supplies to reach another island in the group, [[Aitutaki]], where they posed as Norwegians. The New Zealand Resident in Aitutaki was suspicious but had no means of detaining the group, and 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 it was a beached ship.

Luckner pressed on to the Fijian [[Wakaya Island]], arriving after a voyage of {{convert|3700|km|mi|abbr=on}} in an open boat. Most people on Wakaya accepted the Germans' story of being shipwrecked Norwegians, but one sceptic called a party of police from the old Fijian capital of [[Levuka]]. On 21 September, the police threatened that a non-existent gun on the inter-island ferry ''Amra'' would blow Luckner out of the water. Not wishing to cause bloodshed, and not realizing the police were unarmed, Luckner and his party surrendered<ref>[http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=TO19190719.2.30 Article], ''N.Z. Observer'', Volume XXXIX, Issue 46, 19 July 1919, p. 17.</ref> and were confined in a prisoner-of-war camp on [[Motuihe Island]], off [[Auckland]], New Zealand.<ref>[http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/Landscapes/NearshoreIslands/4/ENZ-Resources/Standard/5/en Luckner on Motuihe Island]</ref>

Meanwhile, back on Mopelia, a small French trading ship, the ''Lutèce'', anchored outside the reef. Leutnant Kling of ''Seeadler'', having heard on the radio of his captain's capture, sailed out to ''Lutèce'' and captured her at gunpoint. The French crew was put ashore with the other prisoners, and all the Germans embarked on the ship, which they renamed the ''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 {{convert|1600|km|mi|abbr=on}} to [[Pago Pago]], 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 left stranded on Mopelia.

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

===Escape===
Luckner still refused to accept that the war was over for him. The commander of the [[prisoner of war]] camp at Motuihe had a fast motor boat, the ''Pearl'', at his disposal, and on 13 December 1917, Luckner faked setting up a play for Christmas with his men and used his provisions for the play to plan his escape. He and other prisoners seized the ''Pearl'' and made for the [[Coromandel Peninsula]]. Using a machine gun, Luckner then seized the 90-ton scow ''Moa'' and, with the help of a handmade sextant and a map copied from a school atlas,<ref>{{Cite web | title = Sextant | work = Collections Online | publisher = Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa | url = http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?oid=58422 | access-date = 30 November 2010}}</ref> he sailed for the [[Kermadec Islands]], which contained a castaway depot on Curtis Island.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Taonga |first=New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu |title=Castaway depot on Curtis Island, 1917 |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/37376/castaway-depot-on-curtis-island-1917 |access-date=2022-09-07 |website=teara.govt.nz |language=en}}</ref> A pursuing auxiliary ship, the ''Iris'', had guessed Luckner's 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 prisoner of war camps in New Zealand, including [[Ripapa Island]] in [[Lyttelton Harbour]],<ref name="hero or braggart">{{cite news |last1=Munro |first1=Robin |title=War hero or a braggart? |url= http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/mainlander/6742485/War-hero-or-a-braggart |access-date=19 October 2014 |work=[[The Press]] |date=14 April 2012 |pages=C10–C11}}</ref> before being repatriated to Germany in 1919.

==Personal life==
[[File:Count Felix Graf von Luckner with wife Countess Ingeborg von Luckner on board SEETEUFEL (9611944104).jpg|thumb|upright|Luckner with his wife Ingeborg in Sydney during his goodwill trip to Australia, 1938]]
Luckner was married twice. He married Petra Schultz from [[Hamburg]], with whom he had a daughter, Inge-Maria, born in 1913. They were divorced in 1914. On 24 September 1924 he married Ingeborg Engeström in [[Malmö]], [[Sweden]].

==Postwar life==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-10401, Graf Luckner und Kapitän Ziegenbein.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Luckner with captain Leopold Ziegenbein in Bremen, 1930]]
On 12 May 1921, Luckner joined [[Regular Freemasonry]] of the Lodge ''[[Grand National Mother Lodge, "The Three Globes"|Zur goldenen Kugel]]'' (''[[Grand Landlodge of the Freemasons of Germany|Große Landesloge von Deutschland]]'') in [[Hamburg]]. He wrote a book about his wartime adventures which became a bestseller in Germany, and a book about him by [[Lowell Thomas]] spread his fame throughout the [[Anglosphere]].

In 1926 Luckner raised funds to buy a sailing ship which he called the ''Vaterland'' and he set out on a goodwill mission around the world, leaving [[Bremen]] on 19 September and arriving in [[New York Harbor]] on 22 October 1926. An entertaining speaker, he was widely admired for his seamanship and for having fought his war at sea with such a minimal loss of life. This opened many doors for him in the United States, where he spoke on hundreds of occasions across the country, both in German and later, increasingly, in English. He won the support of many notable people, including diplomats, politicians, and even [[World War I]] veterans belonging to the [[American Legion]]. [[Henry Ford]] presented Luckner with a motor car, and the city of San Francisco made him an honorary citizen. US President [[Calvin Coolidge]] wanted to meet him, but Luckner politely declined at the request of [[German Foreign Office|Foreign Office]] of the [[Weimar Republic]]. 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 he be financially sustained by the income as a speaker, however popular and successful, he returned to Germany, where he arrived on 19 April 1928.

[[File:Count Felix Graf von Luckner visiting the Royal Military College of Duntroon, Canberra (9470623218).jpg|thumb|Luckner visiting the [[Royal Military College, Duntroon|Royal Military College of Duntroon]], 1938]]

Count von Luckner was a family friend and frequent visitor to the Heydrich family, who belonged to the Catholic minority in [[Halle, Saxony-Anhalt|Halle]]. At their household, Count Luckner's stories about the cruise of ''SMS Seeadler'' inspired one of their sons, a young [[Reinhard Heydrich]], to enlist as an officer cadet in the inter-war ''[[Reichsmarine]]'' of the Weimar Republic, from which he was dishonourably discharged for "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman" in 1931. In 1937 and 1938, Luckner and his wife undertook a round-the-world voyage in his yacht ''Seeteufel'', and they were welcomed in New Zealand and Australia, although some{{Who|date=January 2012}} viewed him as an apologist for the [[Nazism|Nazi]] regime and for this reason, Luckner became a target for [[anti-German sentiment|anti-German]] propaganda by the Australian press.

For example, Count von Luckner had great physical strength and was noted for his ability to bend coins between the thumb, index, and middle finger of his right hand and to tear up telephone directories (the thickest being that of New York City), with his bare hands. For this reason, on the occasion of his visit to Australia in 1938, the Sydney ''[[Labor Daily]]'' published a cartoon showing Kaiser Wilhelm tearing up the [[German invasion of Belgium (1914)#Belgian neutrality|Belgian Neutrality Pact]], Adolf Hitler tearing up another agreement, and Luckner tearing up a telephone directory, with the caption "They All Have the Habit".

During their visit to [[Queensland]], Australia, the Luckners were feted by the press and public. The [[Brisbane]] office of the [[Commonwealth Investigation Branch]] (CIB), maintained a surveillance of the Luckners during their visit, with the inspector in charge of the CIB in Brisbane, Bob Wake, attending a gala function arranged by the German Foreign Office in honour of the couple. The gala menu was decorated with a [[swastika]]. The CIB kept detailed records of all of their contacts, and when [[Military history of Australia during World War II|Australia declared war on Germany]] many of these contacts were arrested and interned.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wake |first1=Valdemar Robert |title=No Ribbons or Medals: The story of 'Hereward', an Australian counter espionage officer |date=2004 |publisher=Jacobyte Books |location=Mitcham, South Australia, Australia |isbn=1-74100-165-X}}{{isbn|9781741001655}} available from Digital Print, South Australia.</ref>

During the [[Second World War]], [[Adolf Hitler]] tried to exploit Luckner for propaganda purposes, although as a Freemason Luckner was not in one of the Nazis' favoured groups of people. Luckner refused to renounce his membership in "the Craft" or the various honorary citizenships granted in the US, and consequently he suffered by having his bank accounts frozen. In 1943, Count von Luckner saved the life of a [[German Jew]]ish woman, Rose Janson, whom he provided with a passport he found on a bombsite, and which allowed her to subsequently escape to the United States via a neutral country. Towards the end of the war in April, Count von Luckner was living in [[Halle, Saxony-Anhalt|Halle]], where he was briefly placed under guard by the [[414th Infantry Regiment (United States)|414th Infantry Regiment]] of the [[United States Army]], which was engaged in house-to-house fighting against [[Wehrmacht]] and [[Waffen-SS]] troops within the town after the garrison refused to surrender.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Third Battalion |first=414th Infantry |date=1945-05-15 |title=Battalion history of the Third Battalion, 414th Infantry of the U.S. Army. |url=http://libarchstor2.uah.edu/digitalcollections/items/show/1171 |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=John Rison Jones, Jr. Collection |page=7}}</ref> Count Luckner did not return to the town after hearing that local Nazis planned to subject him to execution without trial.

Luckner was a prolific autograph signer, and his original 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. However, his body was returned to Germany and was buried in the [[Main Cemetery Ohlsdorf]], Hamburg.

== Writing ==
Luckner wrote the introduction for [[Alfred von Niezychowski]]'s book ''The Cruise of the Kronprinz Wilhelm'', 1928, published by Doubleday & Company, about his time on the [[auxiliary cruiser]] [[SS Kronprinz Wilhelm|''Kronprinz Wilhelm'']].

== TV series ==
Between 1973 and 1975, a Franco-German Co-production company produced a 39-episode adventure series entitled ''"Graf Luckner"'' for the German [[ARD (broadcaster)|ARD]] television network, featuring Luckner as the hero. The French sub-title was ''"Les Aventures du Capitaine Luckner"''.

Episode 26 of the television series ''[[Tales from Te Papa]]'' featured the sextant used by Luckner in his attempt to escape from captivity in New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Sextant | work = Tales from Te Papa | publisher = TVNZ | year = 2009 | url = http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Theme.aspx?irn=2184 | access-date = 28 November 2010}}</ref>

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

==Bibliography==
*Allen, Oliver E. and the editors of Time-Life Books. 1978. Captain Sea Devil of the "Seeadler". ''The Windjammers'' pp.&nbsp;120–143. (''The Seafarers'', vol. 6.) Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books.
*Bade, James, N. ''Von Luckner: A Reassessment. Count Felix von Luckner in New Zealand and the South Pacific. 1917–1919-and 1938.'' Peter Lang GMBH, Frankfurt am Main, 2004.
*Bohse, Daniel & Sperk, Alexander, ''Legende, Opportunist, Selbstdarsteller: Felix Graf Luckner und seine Zeit in Halle (Saale) 1919–1945'', Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 2015.
*Bromby, Robin, ''German Raiders of the South Seas'', Doubleday. Sydney and Auckland. 1985.
*Cowan, James, ''"The Pirate of the Pacific: German Naval Officer's daring Escape from his Prison Island and Recapture in Mid-Ocean," '' The Wide World Magazine, July 1918. pp.&nbsp;253–260.
*Davis, E. H. "The Man Who Met Von Luckner: True Story of an Encounter with the Seeadler", The World News, 25 June 1938, pp.&nbsp;7 and 40–41.
*Frankenstein, Norbert von, ''"Seeteufel" Felix Graf Luckner: Wahrheit und Legende'', Hamburg, SSC-Verlag 1997.
*Fraser, Eleanor, ''"Count Felix von Luckner and the ' Pinmore''', Sea Breezes 66, 1992, pp. 772–776.
*Gardiner, Robert (editorial director), ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921''. Conway Maritime Press, London 1985.
*Henry, Howard, ''"The Sea Devil came Calling" --- Count von Luckner and his visit to Aitutaki: August/September 1917''. Sovereign Pacific Publishing Company, Auckland, 2001.
*[[Edwin Palmer Hoyt|Hoyt, Edwin. P]]., ''Sea Eagle (alternative title: Count von Luckner: Knight of the Sea)'' David McKay Co Inc, New York, NY, 1969.
*Irving, Terry and Rowan Cahill, ''Radical Sydney: Places, Portraits and Unruly Episodes'', UNSW Press, Sydney, 2010, pp.&nbsp;223–230.
*Luckner, Felix von, ''Seeteufel erobert Amerika'', Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig, 1928.
*Luckner, Felix von, ''Aus dem Leben des 'Seeteufels' '', edited by Wolfgang Seilkopf, Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle, 2000.
*Luckner, Felix von, ''Ein Freibeuterleben'', Woldni & Lindeke, Dresden, 1938.
*Luckner, Felix von, ''Out of an Old Sea Chest'', trans. by Edward Fitzgerald, Methuen, London, 1958.
*Luckner, Felix von, ''Seeteufel: Abenteuer aus meinem Leben'', Koehler, Berlin and Leipzig, 1926, (first published 1921).
*Luckner, Felix von, ''Seeteufels Weltfahrt: Alte und neue Abenteuer'', Bertelsmann (Gutersloh) 1951.
*McGill, David, ''Island of Secrets: Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour'', Steele Roberts & Silver Owl Press, Wellington, 2001.
*Newbolt, Henry, ''History of the Great War Based on Official Documents: Naval Operations, Vol IV'', Longmans Green and Co, London. 1928.
*Pardoe, Blaine ''The Cruise of the Sea Eagle: The Amazing True Story of Imperial Germany's Gentleman Pirate'' The Lyons Press, 2005, {{ISBN|1-59228-694-1}}.
*Ruffell, W. ''"The Search for Von Luckner, Part 1"'', The Volunteers: New Zealand Military Historical Journal, Vol.5, no.5, pp.&nbsp;14–20.
*Ruhen, Carl, ''The Sea Devil: the Controversial Cruise of the Nazi Emissary von Luckner to Australia and New Zealand in 1938''. Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, 1988.
* Schmalenbach, Paul  ''German Raiders: A History of Auxiliary Cruisers of the German Navy, 1895–1945''. Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-824-7}}.
*Seilkopf, Wolfgang, ''Graf Luckner der Seeteufel/Count Luckner the Sea Devil: Eine Biografie in Bildern / A Biography in Pictures'', Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 2012. 
*Thomas, Lowell, ''Count Luckner the Sea Devil'', Garden City Publishing Company, Inc, Garden City, New York, 1927.
*Thomas, Lowell, ''The Sea Devil. The Story of C. Felix v. Luckner, the German War Raider''. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company,1927; London: William Heinemann 1927.
*{{cite book |last1=Wake |first1=Valdemar Robert |title=No Ribbons or Medals: The story of 'Hereward', an Australian counter espionage officer |date=2004 |publisher=Jacobyte Books |location=Mitcham, South Australia, Australia |isbn=1-74100-165-X}}{{isbn|9781741001655}} available from Digital Print, South Australia.
*Thomas, Lowell, ''The Sea Devil's Fo'c'sle'' New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. 1929.
*Tichener, Paul, ''The Von Luckner Incident'', Lodestar Press, Auckland, 1978.
*Walter, John, ''The Kaiser's Pirates, German Surface Raiders in World War One'', Arms and Armour Press, London, 1994.
*Yarwood, Vaughan, ''The History Makers: Adventures in New Zealand Biography''. Random House New Zealand. Auckland, 2002.
*Alain Dunoyer de Segonzac, "Luckner, l'aigle des mers", Magazine "Chasse-marée", n°40, March 1989.
*Patrick de Gmeline and Josephine Sinclair, "Lückner l'aigle des mers" published by Lavauzelle publishers, France, illustrated with paintings (first and fourth covers) and drawings from the French painter [[Claude Le Baube]], September 1985.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Felix_von_Luckner.ogg|date=2005-06-09}}
*{{commons category-inline}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050327013623/http://riv.co.nz/rnza/tales/vonluckner3.htm Life as a prisoner of von Luckner], account by Carl Singer, captured on the ''Moa''.
* [http://www.europe.canterbury.ac.nz/conferences/euro2003/paper1.pdf What Really Happened to von Luckners' Seeadler in 1917?], James N. Bade, University of Auckland (PDF file).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060311043436/http://www.cine-holocaust.de/cgi-bin/gdq?efw00fbw002745.gd Record of his appearance on ''This is Your Life'' US television show], [[NBC]], 4 November 1959.
* [http://luckner-society.com/ Felix Count von Luckner Society Homepage], Halle, Germany.
* [http://www.104infdiv.org/saale.htm A fabulous figure emerged from the ruins of Germany last week Newsweek: April 30, 1945.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051218113849/http://www.104infdiv.org/saale.htm |date=18 December 2005 }}
* [http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/CountFelixvonLucknerIndex.html Ahoy] – Mackenzie Gregory's weblog containing much information from a long fascination with Luckner.
* [http://archives.govt.nz/publications-media-releases/ng-tapuwae-april-2011/never-say-die-message-left-minister-legendary-coun Photograph and Prisoner of War files at Archives NZ]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{DNB portal|118574809|TYP=}}
*{{ citation |chapter-url=http://www.shippingwondersoftheworld.com/fortunes-war.html |chapter=The Fortunes of War |title=Shipping Wonders of the World |year=1937 |pages=802–808 |editor-first=Clarence |editor-last=Winchester }} illustrated account of Luckner's exploits with the ''Seeadler''
* [[Lowell Thomas]] (1927), ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73765 Count Luckner, the Sea Devil]''. Garden City: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc.
* {{PM20|FID=pe/011694}}

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