Sir, - With reference to recent letters on this subject, the confusion that has arisen about the Li-bau and the Aud is easily resolved: they were one and the same. The point is clarified in my forthcoming book Birth of a Republic. The complete details are in Das Geheiminisvolle Schiff, August Scherl, Berlin, 1920 (published also in translation with the apt title The Mystery of the Casement Ship, Kribe-Verlag, Berlin, 1931), by Leutnant Karl Spindler, Captain of Libau/Aud.
The ship, then named Castro, was an English vessel originally of the Wilson Line of Hull, captured by a German destroyer in 1916. She was designated as the ship to bring the arms to Ireland and, in Hamburg, was (temporarily) renamed Libau. The rumour was spread about, in order to deceive possible spies, that that was her destination.
She was also refitted and disguised in secret, down to the minutest detail, to resemble a Norwegian tramp steamer, Aud. En route (to Ireland) the name Li- bau was painted out and, off Warnemunde, Aud - Norge replaced it. - Yours, etc.,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.