Letters

Grandfather hosted Count Von Luckner in Hawera, New Zealand in 1938

Hello,

I am fascinated to have discovered your site.  It was only a chance family gathering last month that I sat down with my father to discuss his family tree/background.  It was then that he starting talking about Count Von Luckner the German Spy, from his boyhood in Hawera, New Zealand in 1938.

It seems that my Grandfather (a rather eccentric man of his time), befriended a man in the street, whom he promptly invited to stay at his homestead, (my Grandfather was a rather rich gentleman of the times).  This man, whom my father relayed to us was Count Von Luckner of the Seeadler.  And that he did stay with my father's family for a short while.  It wasn't until after the war that they then realised who in fact he was.

A fascinating recount of bygone days.

Leigh Wiltshire


Leigh,

Thank you for your message, and I am pleased you found Ahoy. It is the combined efforts of my webmaster in Atlanta, Georgia, my good friend Terry Kearns, he puts the order into all my research and subsequent scribblings.

Both of us are always delighted when we ring a bell for someone or their family, and Count von Luckner has kept that bell chiming from many different places around the world. We find it quite incredible at all the interest in him since I first wrote about his exploits in Seeadler, as part of my work on Mauraders of the Sea WW1.

We would be pleased if you are able to share any other stories about your Grandfather and the wily WW1 sailor of some renown, he will never be replicated, truly a one off character!!

Again thank you for writing, and best wishes from us both.

Mac. Gregory.


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