It did not take long and two tall ships came down the River Elbe. Runners brought the news to Hamburg even before the ships arrived in the harbor. ‘Die Bunte Kuh had the Störtebeker in-tow and Simon Von Utrecht got a huge hero’s welcome.
Störtebeker and his men were put into jail to await trial. Punishment for piracy was death. Only the court had a problem. Nobody had found the loot and Störtebeker was not talking. Neither did any of his crew, not even under torture. The ship had been searched from top to bottom, even the planks were taken out, but nothing was found. It had to be hidden somewhere on land, but where? After a month of interrogation, the court had gotten no information and so no punishment had yet been given. Frustration led the judge to make an offer to Störtebeker. If he would tell the court what they wanted to know, he Störtebeker would be the only one executed and all of his crewmembers would be set free. Störtebeker accepted the terms.
After giving up his secret, he was beheaded in the early years of the 15th Century. His crew was freed and no one ever heard of them again. However, the other story told was that Störtebeker asked the court of Hamburg to spare the lives of as many of his crew that he could run past after his beheading. When they chopped his head off his body started to run past twelve of his crewmates! Ultimately, they too were executed along with the rest of the crew.
The biggest treasure that the people had ever seen was found on the ship after all! The tall, impressive masts had been hollowed out, and filled with gold and silver, mostly coins. Helgoland (Helgioland), a dormant volcano that lay just on the outside of the Elbe Delta, was assumed unapproachable and uninhabitable. Its rugged exterior and dangerous waters made any ship shy away. Störtebeker had found a narrow passage close to the shore of this island. He had enough room to anchor and hide his ship. From there he took a small rowboat to get on land. A real surprise was waiting for him there. The inactive crater had turned into a paradise. Green grass lush plants and flowers amidst water cascading down the crater walls creating little rivulets on the bottom and even a small lake. Groups of goats and sheep were grazing. The most amazing thing to see was the little neat houses surrounded by well-tended vegetable gardens. People were living there in this secure setting for generations, totally self sufficient without any outsiders knowing of their existence. They learned that the inhabitance originated from Denmark. Political renegades had fled their land looking for a new place to live. Discovering this volcano’s secret, its beauty, they settled there. Störtebeker must have paid those people well to supply him with water and food.
Simon Von Utrecht received his promised share from the abundance found on the pirate ship. The City of Hamburg was suddenly rich by retrieving mostly what was theirs to begin with. The senate used part of the money to restructure the city. A whole new section was build. A wide boulevard with large median was one of the first. It had beautiful courthouses and official buildings on one side. The Hamburg music hall was sensational on the other side with many conference and meeting places. On top of the street a huge botanical garden that offered amusement and recreational events. For that time period, all that was built was ‘state of the art’.
In the centre of the well-maintained median, adorned with bushes and flowers, they erected a huge monument of Simon of Utrecht. Yes, and of course the boulevard was named Simon Von Utrecht Street.
After all that ?? (page 14) the senate still had a lot of money left. They went to the Kaiser and bought the land and surroundings of Hamburg. They were no longer Prussians. It had become a City State. Very proudly it got its official name: Freie und Hause Stadt Hamburg and so it is, until this day.
I enjoyed the story of Klaus Störtebeker very much, Mom said that she was not surprised and that I seemed to have a liking for the bad guys. I asked her what she meant. “First Rübezahl, and now Störtebeker” she explained.
I didn’t quite get what she was talking about, but that was alright. What I was more concerned about was whether the pirate’s crew members, those that no one ever heard about again, where still roaming around Germany. Mom laughed and said “No Illa that happened a long, long time ago. You do not have to worry about them”.
