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FIVE MONTHS ON A GERMAN RAIDER
Being the Adventures of
an Englishman Captured by the "Wolf".
F.G.Trayes, formerly Principal
of the Royal Normal College, Bangkok, Siam.
Headley Bros. Publishers,
Ltd. 72 Oxford Street, (London). March 1919. Hardcover, cloth-covered boards
probably no dustjackeet, 187 pages, two photographs.
Also have listed Robert
M. McBride and Co., 152pp, 1918. Hardcover.
Also print-on-demand book
produced in the US, Dodo Press.
The author, Dr Frederick
Trayes, was returning to London from Siam on board the 6557-ton Japanese
Mail ship Hitachi Maru, when he was captured by the Wolf on 26 September
1917. He was imprisoned on the Wolf and later on the captured Spanish ship
Igotz Mendi, which was not sunk, and made it to Denmark where he was liberated
with several other imprisoned passengers. It is well that he wrote this
book soon after the end of the war as he died in 1932. He is mentioned
many times in the Guilliatt and Hohnen book (above); I get the impression
(from Wolf by Guilliatt and Hohnen) that Trayes may have been rather
'picturesque' in his descriptions of the action and life on board - I have
not read the book as yet so reserve judgement. But it is one of the first
'memoir' to be written by anyone on the Wolf, and is thus a very important
historical record. [ps] |
No image
available - do
you have one?.
|
GERMAN RAIDERS: A HISTORY OF AUXILIARY
CRUISERS OF THE GERMAN NAVY 1895-1945.
Paul Schmalenbach.
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis,
USA. 1979. |
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GERMAN RAIDERS OF THE SOUTH SEAS
Bromby, Robin
German Raiders of the South
Seas
The Naval Threat to Australia/New
Zealand1914-17.
Doubleday Australia, Sydney,
1985. Hardcover. First Edition. 208pp. Numerous b/w photographs, maps.
[Looks like Karl Nerger
on the cover] |
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OUT OF AN OLD SEA CHEST
Felix Count Von Luckner.
English edition: Methuen
& Co., London. 1958.
First published with the
title Aus Siebzig Lebensjahren, by Koehlers Verlagsgesellshaft, In Germany,
in 1955. English edition translater by Edward Fitzgerald.
Hardcover, dustjacket, 222
pages, nine mono photographs, no index.
Von Luckner was, of course,
the master of the German raider Seeadler during World War 1. His biography
of that time is documented for posterity in the famous book ‘The Sea Devil'
by Lowell Thomas. ‘The Count' was a remarkable compassionate man, and we
get this impression from the Lowell Thomas book. This autobiography will
continue that impression, although I have little respect for anyone who
like to kill game under the guise of being a ‘sportsman'. From the fly:
"The author is an excellent raconteur and this book is full of amusing
annecdotes. After the First World War he travelled all over the world with
his wife (Ingeborg) in his own sailing ship, giving lectures and winning
understanding for his country from its erstwhile enemies, particularly
in America where he has many friends. Through good times and bad, Count
Luckner has always got the best out of life, so that now he remembers even
his difficulties with humour and gratitude." It was on a world trip in
1938 that my grandfather met von Luckner and played a significant role
in his government reception in Melbourne. This autobiography commences
with the young Count running away from home to go to sea, through
his early training before the mast, the war years, and subsequent life.
What a remarkable life he led. [ps] |
No dust jacket -
did it have one?
|
PRISONER OF THE 'KORMORAN'
W.A. Jones' Amazing Experiences
on the German Riader Kormoran and as a Prisoner of War in Germany.
(Written by) James Taylor
(who also wrote the acclaimed Gold from the Sea, and Spoils From
the Sea).
Australasian Publishing
Co, Sydney, 1944. Hardcover, no dustjacket my copy Probably did not have
a dust jacket. 318 pages, no idex, a few mono photos but surprisingly,
none of the Kormoran. Writtem in the first person of W.A.Jones.
This is the well known raider
which sank HMAS Sydney in November 1941 off the WA coast. The Kormoran
was also lost. Both ships were located in 1958.
I have not read this book,
but I gather Jones was on board the SS Mareeba when captured. |
No image
available - do
you have
one?.
|
RAIDER WOLF - THE VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN NERGER,
1916-1918.
Edwin P. Hoyt.
US Edition: Pinnacle Books,
New York 1974.
US Edition: Paul S. Erikson
Inc., New York. 1974. Hardcover, dustjacket. Claimed as the first US edition.
British edition: Arthur
Barker. London. 1974. 1st Ed. 150 pp. Hard cover, dustjacket.
The Voyage of Captain Nerger,
1916-1918, fifteen month cruise of the Wolf during which she sank 135,000
tons of Allied shipping. Mine laying off Cape Howe, Cape Maria Van Diemen
& Cape Farewell. Hoyt is a well-known and respected military writer.
See paperback 'Sea Eagle'
below. |
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SEA EAGLE
E.P.Hoyt.
Tandem, London, 1976. ISBN
Number: 0426170210 / 9780426170211
Mass Market Paperback
"The Armed German Windjammer
which Created a World War 2 Legend."
The story of the sail-rigged
raider of WWI commanded by Count Von Luckner, in WWI, named the Seeadler
- menaing Sea Eagle.
This could be the identical
book to Hoyt's 'Raider Wolf' - see above.
[ps] |
No image
available - do
you have one?.
|
SMS WOLF
Karl Nerger. August Scherl,
Berlin, 1918. Translated from the manuscript from the British Admiralty
archives, GTO Publisher, Auckland, 2000.
The author was the captain
of the German raider Wolf during World War 1. Nerger is the 'star feature'
in the Guilliatt and Hohnen book of similar name. |
No image
available - do
you have one?.
|
TEN MONTHS IN A GERMAN RAIDER
John Stanley Cameron.
George H. Doran & Co,
New York. 1918.
The author was skipper of
the three-masted barque Beluga, sailing from the USA to Australiaa with
his family, when the vessel was captured and sunk in the Pacific. Cameron
and his family spent ten months on the raider 'Wolf', before being imprisoned
in an internment camp in Germany. He is quoted extensively in the Guilliatt
and Hohnen book. |
No image
available - do
you have one?.
|
THE AMAZING CRUISE OF THE GERMAN RAIDER 'WOLF'
From the Log of Captain
Donaldson s.s. "Matunga"
Sydney. New Century Press.
1941. 156pp. 8vo
Also have listed: 12mo -
over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.
"Follows the daring and
aggressive mine-laying by theGerman auxiliary cruiser-raider 'Wolf' in
WW1 which lead to a number of Australian cargo ships being destroyed and
people killed. " |
No image
available - do
you have one?.
|
THE BLACK SHIP: WAR AND COMMERCE-RAIDING
ON THE AUXILIARY CRUISER 'WOLF'.
F. Witschetzky.
Union Deutsche Berlagsgesellschaft,
Stuttgart, Germany, 1921.
The author was gunnery lieutenant
on board the German raider 'Wolf'. |
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THE CRUISE OF THE RAIDER 'WOLF'
Roy Alexander.
First edition: Angus &
Robertson Limited, Sydney and London, 1939. Hardcover, dust jacket,
334 pages, no index, no photographs.
Later edition: Angus &
Robertson Limited, Sydney and London, 1941. Hardcover, pictorial
boards, 283 pages, no index, no photographs.
Both editions provide list
of vessels captured with brief details of each, and fold-out chart of the
cruise of the Wolf. Includes a chapter on Felix Von Luckner and the Seeadler.
Also: Yale University Press,
New Haven, (USA), 1939.
Also: Published by CAPE
in 1939, 316 pages, hardback (no D/J),
Also: Noontide Press, 1991.
Hardcover, dust jacket
This is a very personal
account from one of the imprisoned merchant crew.
"Roy Alexander, wireless
operator in a New Zealand-San Francisco ship which the Wolf sank, was imprisoned
in her and was able to observe her extraordinary feats from close quarters.
The capturing and sinking of ship-after ship; the nerve-racking suspense
of mine-laying; the daring of the Wolf's seaplane officer; the courage
and skill of Captain Nerger, who took his ship out and back through the
Allied blockade, and evaded all the warships that were chasing him; the
horrors of the hold, in which several hundred scurvy-ridden prisoners lived,
and the final triumph of the return to Kiel are features of a remarkable
story of adventure."
Alexander is quoted many
times throughout the book Wolf by Guilliatt and Hohnen (see above).
Furrher comment from the
blurb: Of all the German raiders that preyed on Allied and neutral shipping
in the Great War, the Wolf had one of the most spectacular careers, though
she has not received the notoriety of ships like the Emden and the Seeadler.
She left Germany in November 1916, returning in February 1918. She cruised
64,000 miles and sank, by gunfire, mine, and bomb, 135,000 tons of shipping.
The raider's course took her all over the Eastern seas. [ps] |
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THE KAISER'S COOLIES
Theodore Plivier.
German edition: 'Des Kaisers
Kulis'.
US Edition: Alfred A. Knopf,
New York, 1931. Hardcover, cloth-covered boards, presume no dust-jacket,
308 pages, no index, no photographs. (Cover, left, red)[ps]
British edition: Faber
& Faber, London, 1932. Hardcover, 1st Eng. Ed., 332pp
Recent edition: Howard Fertig,
1988. Hardcover, ISBN 0865273782
Translated from Des Kaisers
Kulis., by Margaret Green.
"Graphic account of service
in the ranks of the German navy." The author was an outspoken merchant
seaman on the German raider Wolf; in his later career he became
one of Germany's most outspoken communist writer-agitators. I havn't read
ther book as yet but it does appear fascinating, with much more content
than just the Wolf cruise. Guilliatt anmd Hohnen write: "His scalding memor,
Des
Kaisers Kulis, portrayewd the officers' mess of a German warship as
a grotesque circusa wher3e 'ssuper-abundance and ostentation prevailed,
whilst predujice and class arrogance paraded themselves... Every gathering
and every banquet was unutterably stupid' ". Indeed, he wrote of Fritz
Witchetzky (see below, The Black Ship), as one who perfectly epitomised
the 'smooth-faced' asses who rose through the ranks of the Kaiserliche
Marine. Plivier described his captain on the Wolf, Karl Nergeer, as 'the
lonliest man on board', which indeed he was. Theodire Plivier is extensively
quoted, from The Kaiser's Coolies, by Guilliatt aand Hohnen in 'Wolf'. |
No image
available - do
you have one?.
|
THE KAISERS PIRATES
John Walter.
Arms and Armour Press, London,
1994.
Weidenfeld Military, 1994.
Naval Institute Press,
Annapolis, USA, 1994. Hardcover, 4to-over 9¾"-12" tall, black cloth
boards, 192 pgs. b&w photo illus.
An illustrated history of
one of the most dramatic periods of naval warfare, this text tells the
story of the warships and armed merchant cruisers of the German Fleet,
whose operations during World War I involved sea chases and battles in
every ocean of the world.
Also:
The Kaiser's Pirates: German
Surface Raiders of World War One
by Erich Maria Remarque
Publisher: Arms and Armour
Press, 1994. Hardcover.
[I don't understand this
- is Remarque the translator of a German version?] |
hardcover |
THE LAST GENTLEMAN OF WAR.
The Raider Exploits of the Cruiser Emden.
R.K.Lochner, Thea Lindauer
(Translator), Harry Lindauer (Translator).
Naval Institute Press -
hardcover 1988; softcover 2002.
softcover |
From the fly:
"In World War I, before the days of unrestricted submarine warfare, merchant
raiders adhered to a chivalric code of conduct. They were dauntless in
their pursuit of enemy merchant ships yet courteous to the crews they captured,
and their adventures were eagerly followed by the public on both sides.
The last of these gentlemen-of-war, the German cruiser Emden, was legendary.
Her bold and gallant raids against Allied merchant ships in the Indian
Ocean earned her the admiration of friend and foe alike. When her dazzling
exploits came to an abrupt end in 1914, even the British lamented her loss.
This superb translation of R. K. Lochner's Die Kaperfahrten des Kleinen
Kreuzers Emden offers English-speaking readers the first com- plete account
of her high-seas ventures. The Emden is credited with capturing or sinking
nineteen merchant ships while sweeping the seas from Diego Garcia to Calcutta,
from the Maldive islands to the Malay Peninsula. In one raid alone she
sank a Russian cruiser and destroyed a French torpedo boat after boldly
steaming into a British port. Allied warships were determined to hunt her
down, but she cleverly eluded them until an Australian cruiser finally
engaged her in a fierce and unequal bat- tle off the Cocos islands and
cut short her spec- tacular career. . This World War I saga, however, does
not end with the Emden's demise. Her story con- tinues through her survivors,
who embarked on an adventure-filled journey across the Indian Ocean, overland
on the Arabian Peninsula, to . Constantinople and the safety of a German
squadron. Based on extensive research into German, French, and English
sources, the book is filled with authentic details yet reads like a fast-paced
adventure tale. It provides a colorful portrait of a lost era of naval
warfare that will engage the imagination and intellect of all readers."
[ps-h] |
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.
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THE SEA DEVIL.
The Story of Count
Felix von Luckner, the German War Raider.
Lowell Thomas.
William Heinemann Ltd.,
First published March 1928. Many editions and reprints until at least May
1940, perhaps beyond. 'Cheap edition', January 1930.
Hardcover, 308 pages, 22
interesting photographs, although of rather small size. I have never seen
a dust jacket for this book - was there one?
This really is a classic,
a delight to read, although some may find the prose annoying at times.
However, it certainly gives you a great impression of 'the Sea Devil',
who, it is claimed, never took a life during his raiding voyages on the
Atlantic and the Pacific in the sailing ship Seeadler in 1917 and 1918.
The first chapter is written in forst person by the author, sort of an
introduction to von Luckner. From then, it is von Luckner in first person
telling his tale. And what an interesting tale it is, by jove!! His title
was genuine, coming ftom a high-ranking aristocratic family. He did not
exactly run away from home, but he followed his passion on the sea, and
like the dreams of so many boys of becoming a pirate, actually did realise
this childish dream by becoming a 'pirate' raider for Imperial German Navy,
using a three-master sailing ship as his weapon of force - an auxiliarry
sailing ship with an oil driven motor and armed to the teeth. Von LUckner
used cunning to capture his prizes, and although he did fire upon and strike
several ships, there is no record of his killing anyone - so the record
goes. I find the man fascinating moreso because I have a signed and photo
of the man in my office, dedicated to my grandfather whom he knew when
he visited Melbourne in 1938 (see photo above). It is necessary to accept
the circumstances of events that The Count describes in the book, otherwise
you would need to doubt every word, which would significantly detract from
the enjoyment of reading it. But it would be interesting for someone to
write an independant biography of the man. Interestingly, there are near
a dozen books published on the exploits of the raider 'Wolf', but a dearth
on that of the Seeadler. Whereas Nerger of theWolf was a short-lived hero
when he returned to German, von Luckner, being of the aristocracy, received
world-wide aclaim for his compassion at war. Yet Nerger appears to have
achieved more for his country than did von Luckner. One thing I do not
appreciate is von Luckner's passion for killing wild animals. How on earth
can anyone get pleasure out of killing an elephant for sport - a 'brute'
of an animal as he calls him. Come to think of it, I think I'll take down
his photo off the office wall.
Dustjackets: No idea on
origin of top image. Lower image from my copy, reprint May 1940.
[ps-lowerdj] |
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THE SEA DEVIL'S FO'C'SLE
Lowell Thomas.
William Heinemann Ltd, ,
London, 1930.
Hardcover, dustjacket, 300
pages,
The 'Sea Devil' is of course
Count Felix Von Luckner - and this is an extention of his raconteur of
days under sail, and later, not covered in Lowell Thomas' excellent 'The
Sea Devil' above. Its interesting, easy reading. Some say the Count was
full of it, or of himself, but Thomas does not give that impression. I
get the impression the Count loved life, but did noit take himeslef too
seriously. He did his bit for his homeland during the forst world war,
and continued as an ambassador for German after the end of hostilities.
He was a Nazis in the early days of the political party that now bears
the responsibility of the attrocities of the second world war, but he would
have renopunced them well before then. Actually, how did he meet his Maker?
I must find out. [ps] |
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THE WOLF
How One German Raider Terrorised Australia and trhe Southern Seas in
the First World War.
Richard Guilliatt and Peter
Hohnen.
A William Heinemann book
published by Random House Australia, Sydney, Australia. 2009. (The image
shown is that of the paperback).
Published simultaenously
in the United Kingdom by Transworld. (Presume hardcover editions
were released).
My softcover edition: 365
pages, drawings, many mono photographs, index, comprehensive bibliography,
detailed notes, list of crew of the Wolf and of the vessels she captured.
This is a remarkable book,
exceptionally well researched and written, and despite its unfortunate
theme, a delight to read. It provides not only a detailed account of the
actions of the wartime raider actions of the heavily armed, merchant-disguided
German ship, but also of the background to the war and the German
attitude toward the use of raiders, its crew and officers not initially
regarded that highly. What makes the book such an exceptional read is that
it centres on the people involved - the troubled Kapitan Karl Nerger and
his even more troubled first officer, significent members of the officers
and crew, and, perhaps more significantly, the daily lives and thoughts
of the many crew and passengers imprisoned when their ships were ovwerhauled
by the inoffensive-looking Wolf. This book is very much about people, rather
than the brutality of naval action, although those seeking a greater knowledge
of the first world war will not be disappointed.
From the blurb: "Sent by
Germany on a suicide mission to the far side of the world; the Wolf was
a formidable and ingenious commerce-raider. Her task was to inflict maximum
destruction on Allied shipping using all the latest technology of warfare
-:torpedoes, mines, cannons, smokescreens, wireless receivers, even a seaplane.
It was an assignment so secret that she could never pull in to port or
transmit any radio signal. In one continual 64,000- mile voyage lasting
fifteen months, the ship caused havoc across three oceans, launched Germany's
only direct attacks on Australia and New Zealand in the Great War and captured
over 400 men, women and children. Surviving on fuel and food plundered
from other ships, the Wolf became a world in miniature as her 350-strong
crew
and their prisoners crowded
together in an improbable survival story. Drawn from eyewitness accounts,
declassified government files and unpublished diaries
and correspondence discovered
during five years of research, this is the story of the Wolf's voyage,
one of the most remarkable but least-known episodes of the First World
War". [ps] |
