This is a true story, hand-written by Ilse and posted by her daughter on Steemit.
One day, a ship sailed into the harbor and its captain complained that he had been robbed by pirates. Coming back from England and entering the Elbe Delta, the big pirate ship came at him from out of nowhere. Long and narrow, with four masts, the captain had never seen masts so high. Each mast was equipped with an extra set of sails. It sailed alongside his boat and then the heavily armed pirates invaded his ship and demanded to be given all the gold or gold coins on board, or be killed. He followed their demand, without leaving a single coin behind. The pirates sailed away as quickly as they appeared.
Nobody who had listened to this captain’s story believed him. After all, who had ever heard of a pirate in the North Sea, and a ship of that kind or shape would not even be sea worthy. Some people laughed at the robbed captain exclaiming; “You probably stashed that gold away someplace so not to have to pay taxes.” A few days later, another ship came in with a similar story. This captain had something new to add. The name of the pirate ships’ captain was Klaus Störtebeker. He told me so and very proudly. “I’m here to stay,” he had said. “And there is nothing anybody can do about it. No one will ever catch me.” From then on, many merchant ships became Klaus Störtebeker’s victims. Trying to catch him was useless, his ship; faster than any other, and could not be hunted down. Not even the big rewards advertised led to his capture.
The Hamburg senate held meetings to find a solution. There were questions that puzzled everyone. Why would he always use the Elbe-Delta? He must have a place close by, to anchor, since he was able to appear so suddenly. He also needed provisions and fresh water and of course a spot to hoard his loot. By that time, it would be a lot of money and gold. The whole coastline from the top of Denmark down to France is lowland. Some parts are even below sea level and dotted with a chain of small islands. Some of these islands are partly submerged in high tide; others that were a little higher could be reached with wagons at ebb tide. There was no way a large ship could hide anywhere even close to the coast. The Baltic Sea was out of the question since there was no connection to the North Sea unless one sailed around Denmark, and that would take days. It was also hard to understand why people living close to the sea had never spotted the big ship. Many unanswered questions persisted as Störtebeker kept robbing ships year after year.
Since the merchants along with the city of Hamburg lost a lot of money, and were afraid not to be able to pay their taxes, the Senate went to the Kaiser for help. The Kaiser understood the problem, especially when it came to the taxes. So he sent out a portion of his army and even that failed. The army men were not used to being on-board a ship and got very sea sick. They could barely stand on their feet. The heavy uniform hindered them further from moving freely. The soldiers hampered the crew, which was a nuisance.
The Kaiser heard about that, and called his army back. He did help by sending out messages to the whole area of Prussia, promising great rewards to anyone catching Störtebeker. Most people had never heard of that pirate up until then.
More interested in the hunt, than the money, one of the big and powerful Barons responded. His name was Simon von Utrecht. Simon Von Utrecht made a deal with the Hamburger senate. If he apprehended Störtebeker and brought him and his ship to Hamburg so the pirate could stand trial, he, Simon Von Utrecht, would get a percentage of the loot that Störtebeker must have accumulated over the years of terror in the North Sea.
During Simon Von Utrecht search, he heard rumors about a sailing vessel being built in Sweden that resembled the description of the pirate ship. Von Utrecht traveled to Stockholm and found what he was looking for. He bought the ship, which had just been built. It was the newest and fasted at the time. Then he strategically hired half of his crew right there in Sweden. His sailors had experience with this new ship model and knew how to handle it. From Sweden, he sailed to Lübeck, located on the Baltic Sea and hand picked the rest of his crew. A messenger went over land to Hamburg with the message that read; ‘Expect me any day now, with Störtebeker in-tow. My ship is called ‘Die Bunte Kuh’.’ Signed; Simon v. Utrecht.
next part 23
