Sleepy "Sea-Devil" Reminisces on Capture of Liquor-Laden Steamer--Loaded Stovepipe Masqueraded as Aerial Torpedo

"Steamers, ach. steamers have no soul. It is only the sailing vessels that made great the profession of the sea," declared Count von Luckner, the "Sea-Devil" in an interview yesterday, "the steamers have brought in the trade union on the sea, and the union has destroyed the profession. When we were on the sea, we had to furl the sails without overtime pay."

Count von Luckner stretched and yawned, for it was only 9 o'clock in the morning after a late night's lecture at the University Club. The lecture, however, had been a success, he told me with pride.

When asked about his most amusing experience in the World War he started on the story of how he captured a steamer when the "Seeadler" was in bad need of drinking-water. "We had nothing but an old cannon made in 1820," he said, "but still we had to capture a ship. Finally we sighted a steamer, and sailed over to meet her. We put a long piece of stove piping over the end of our old gun, loaded it, and placed it ready for action. I scattered my men around the ship to yell out orders, because," he said with a smile, "one must have something to scare the enemy."

"As we approached the steamer," he continued, "I signalled the order to surrender, but their captain was stubborn.. When we were near enough the man at the top of our mast called out to clear the gun, and we had to fire. The stovepipe went flying through the air, and the captain of the steamer thought it was an aerial torpedo, so he immediately surrendered. When we took possession of the boat we found that its cargo was chiefly wines and Champagne."

Count von Luckner then told of his schooner "Mopelia" in which he intends to make two trips, one during the spring vacation, and the other this summer for college boys. This schooner, he said, is the only well outfitted one of its kind left. When asked about his last cruise, he told of meeting the policeman who arrested him in the Fiji islands, during the war, who had since become governor of Barbados.