SMS Seeadler (1888)

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Pass of Balmaha, later SMS Seeadler
History
United Kingdom
Name	Pass of Balmaha
Namesake	Pass of Balmaha
Owner	1888–1908 David R Clark (Messrs Gibson & Clark), Glasgow 1908–1909 The River Plate Shipping Company Ltd, Montreal 1909-1914 Ship Pass of Balmaha Company Ltd, Montreal
Port of registry	Glasgow
Builder	Robert Duncan and Company, Port Glasgow
Yard number	237
Launched	9 August 1888
In service	5 September 1888
Out of service	1914
Identification	ON 95087
Fate	Wrecked on 2 August 1917 on a reef at the island of Mopelia
United States
Name	Pass of Balmaha
Owner	Harby Steamship Company, New York
Port of registry	Boston, Massachusetts
Acquired	1914
Out of service	1915
German Empire
Name	SMS Seeadler
Namesake	sea eagle
Acquired	1915
Commissioned	1915
Fate	Wrecked 2 August 1917
General characteristics
Displacement	4500 tons (1,571 GRT)
Length	83.5 m (273 ft 11 in)
Beam	11.8 m (38 ft 9 in)
Draught	5.5 m (18 ft 1 in)
Installed power	900 hp (670 kW)
Propulsion	1 × auxiliary diesel engine 1 × shaft
Sail plan	3 masts, full rig, 2,600 square metres (28,000 sq ft) sail area
Speed	9 kn (16.7 km/h; 10.4 mph) when using engine
Complement	64
Armament	2 × 105 mm (4.1 in) SK L/45 guns 2 × 7.92 mm (0.3 in) MG 08 machine guns

SMS Seeadler (Ger: sea eagle) was a three-masted steel-hulled sailing ship. She was one of the last fighting sailing ships to be used in war when she served as a merchant raider with Imperial Germany in World War I. Built as the British-flagged Pass of Balmaha, she was captured by the German submarine SM U-36, and in 1916 converted to a commerce raider. As Seeadler she had a successful raiding career, capturing and sinking 15 ships in 225 days until she was wrecked, in 2 August 1917, in French Polynesia.