Ahoy Shipmates

Escape

Felix von 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, Pearl, at his disposal, and on the 13th of December 1917 Luckner, in the POW camp faked setting up a play for Christmas with his men and used his provisions for the play to plan his escape. 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 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 the 21st of 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.

Regards

Sean