Lieutenant Commander Count Felix von Luckner ( 1881-1966)
Arms: Quarterly with an inescutcheon: 1st and 4th Argent an ordnance mortar palewise Azure; 2nd and 3rd Gules a lion rampant Or holding a staff Argent with a pennon of the Dannebrog viz. Gules a cross Argent; Surtout parted per pale Sable and Azure a chevron Or and in base a pile of six cannon balls Argent.
SOURCE, NOTES & CREDITS: Blazon, J. H. Gaylor, based on French blazon translated by D. Q. Wedvick from column 1, page 108, Armorial Général by Rietstap, Tome II, reproduced from the 2nd ed, 1887, Barnes and Noble, New York, 1965: Illustration for background Plate XCVIII, Vol. IV,“Illustrations to Rietstap’s Armorial Général” by V. & H. V. Rolland, Heraldry Today, 199 and for text: Wikipedia Article on von Luckner adapted by D. Q. Wedvick.
The Central Powers World War 1 German naval officer who sank 14 allied ships with his Sailing ship Seeadler ( Sea Eagle ) without taking a life. For these actions and others he became a hero to both the Germans and the Allies between the wars.
Lowell Thomas, American author and broadcaster, wrote a biography of him, “Count Luckner, the Sea Devil” in 1927 following up with, “The Sea Devil’s Fo’c’sle” 1929 recounting von Luckner’s earlier life at sea.
According to Wikipedia, Felix von Luckner was the great grandson of Nicolas Luckner who joined the French army in 1763 as a Lt. Gen. & rose to become a Marshal of France in 1791 during the French Revolution & who ended up being guillotined in 1794 for his trouble. The King of Denmark had made him a Danish baron in1778 and a Count in 1784. One wonders who he knew at the Danish court ?
The artwork is a rendering by John Hamilton Gaylor.
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