Comments by "John Luetjen" (@jehl1963) on "Drachinifel"
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I came across this story a few years ago and found it fascinating. A detail that Drach didn't mention -- across all of the Seeadler's engagements -- only 1 person died. Kapitan Luckner did what duty demanded of him, but apparently he wasn't a huge supporter of the war. More of a gentleman naval officer than gung-ho hero or hard-bitten professional. Another interesting factoid -- there are at least 3 very different accounts of the Seeadler's war. Confusingly, all of which where titled "The Sea Devil".
1) Seeteufel (literally the "Sea Devil") by Graf (Count) Luckner) published in 1921 by K. F. Koeler in Leipzig, Germany. To me the best version since it is the most contemporary. Based on the style and contents, it seems to be heavily based on official after-action reports which the German military commonly published between WW1 and WWII. It contains detailed maps and a large number of pictures which did not make it into the other editions. The downside is that you need to be able to read or translate the German which is printed in a Franken font which was the norm for the period.
2) The Sea Devil by Lowell Thomas and Count Luckner, published in at least 25 printings between 1927 and 1932. A fairly straight forward translation, but many of the pictures from the German edition disappeared, and the maps were reduced in quality. If my memory is correct (it's been a few years since I last read it) it was abridged slightly during the translation.
3) The Sea Devil by Sam Jefferson, published by Osprey Publishing, 2017. This version varies the most from the previous two. The account has been significantly abridged, and extra material has been added by Jefferson. If my memory is correct, he had a relative who was on the auxiliary cruiser HMS Patia which stopped the Seeadler as she was breaking out into the Atlantic. This version of the story is very much a 21st century history narrative. There is relatively little first-hand account left in the book, but there is also considerable backstory and author analysis added.
I'm lucky to have all 3 versions, but prefer the 1st two for their 1st-person narratives and details.
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