Motuihe Island
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Motuihe Island lies between Motutapu and Waiheke islands in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, near Auckland. The island measures 179 ha, of which around 18 ha are remnants of coastal forest. The island
The beach on the northern side of the narrow western neck, separated from the southern beach by about 30 m (33 yd)
Location of Motuihe Island in the Hauraki Gulf
The island from the air, looking east
The wharf on the southern side of the island, with the bay behind filled with day-tripper boats
Felix von Luckner
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Felix Nikolaus Alexander Georg Graf von Luckner, sometimes called Count Luckner in English, was a German nobleman, naval officer, author, and sailor who earned the epithet Der Seeteufel, and his crew
Motuihe Island
…for almost 50 years, slowly growing in size. During the First World War, the station was used as an internment camp whose most famous prisoner was Count Felix von Luckner and his crew of the commerce raider SMS Seeadler. Captured in September 1917, in December Luckner used a Christmas play as a ruse to organise an escape…
The ensign which Luckner would raise on the Seeadler to convey hostile intent is now on display at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Seeadler wrecked
Luckner with his wife Ingeborg in Sydney during his goodwill trip to Australia, 1938
Luckner with captain Leopold Ziegenbein in Bremen, 1930