The man referred to as Number One was a Nazi naval officer serving aboard the U-boat Wurrfler under Captain Oskar Schomburg in 1936. That year, Number One served as navigator aboard the submarine as she was used by Colonel Herman Dietrich, French archaeologist René Emile Belloq and Gestapo intelligence agent Major Arnold Ernst Toht to apprehend American archaeologist Indiana Jones, bar owner Marion Ravenwood and the Ark of the Covenant aboard the pirate smuggling freighter Bantu Wind, captained by Simon Katanga.
Biography[]
The Bantu Wind[]
The German naval officer referred to as Number One served aboard the Nazi U-boat Wurrfler under the command of Captain Oskar Schomburg in 1936. That year, after the Ark of the Covenant was found and unearthed from the Well of the Souls at Tanis outside Cairo, Egypt by American archaeologist Indiana Jones and bar owner Marion Ravenwood, stolen by Nazis led by Colonel Herman Dietrich, French archaeologist René Emile Belloq and Gestapo intelligence agent Major Arnold Ernst Toht, and then stolen back and arranged to transported to England aboard the pirate smuggling freighter Bantu Wind by Captain Simon Katanga, the Wurrfler was used by Dietrich, Belloq and Toht to apprehend the Wind in the middle of the Aegean Sea.[1]
As Dietrich, Belloq and Toht led their men aboard the smuggling ship, Schomburg, Number One and the rest of the submarine’s original crew remained aboard the U-boat. Shortly afterwards, Belloq and Dietrich returned with the Ark and a captive Ravenwood, believing Jones to be dead, killed by Katanga, as Number One charted the Nazis’ course on a navigational map. A moment later, another officer informed Number One and the rest of the crew that the U-boat was ready to travel to the secret Nazi island base of Geheimhaven for the opening of the Ark, and the ship set sail. Once the submarine dove below deck, Number One looked through the ship’s periscope, before allowing the other taller officer to do the same, though neither of them noticed that Jones, still alive, had tied himself to the periscope.[1]
During all their way to their secret Aegean Sea base, Number One had to deal with Major Toht's spookiness, who looked over his shoulder during all the trip, to the uneasiness of the crew and their captain, who considered to tell Toht to go to his own cabin.[2] Once the U-boat arrived at the island base, Number One remained inside it, and he and the rest of its crew did not attend the ceremony opening the Ark.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
The role of the Wurrfler navigator is not credited in Raiders of the Lost Ark.[1]