STRANGE INTELLIGENCE: Memoirs of Naval Secret Service

Originally written up in 1930 as a series of thrilling articles in the Daily Telegraph, Hector C. Bywater's experiences were soon turned into a book with the help of Daily Express journalist H. C. Ferraby. Bywater was perhaps the British Secret Service's finest agent, operating in Germany before WWI and tasked with collecting intelligence on naval installations. Recruited by Mansfield Cumming, the first 'C' or Head of what would become MI6, Bywater was given the designation H20 in what was a rather obvious play on his name, and the equivalent of James Bond's 007. The charming and courageous Bywater probably came as close to the popular image of Ian Fleming's most famous character as any secret agent ever did. Collating his espionage endeavours in one rollicking tale of secret service adventure, although the identities of the British spies carrying out the missions in this book are disguised, we know that most of them were in fact Bywater himself. Ahead of a war that was to put the British Navy to its sternest test since Trafalgar, Bywater reveals how he and his fellow agents deceive the enemy to gather vital intelligence on German naval capabilities. His account is a true classic of espionage and derring-do. 287pp in paperback.