Most Secret and Confidential : Intelligence in the Age of Nelson

 

Author Steven Maffeo writes Most Secret and Confidential in an effective style mixing fact and historic fiction as I had never seen before. That I can remember. This is one book that read and felt unique and direct to me. I could probably reread it in a few years and come away with still new perspectives.

Maffeo tackled military intel in its early formative stages as it transitioned from an extra duty for a unit commander or ship's captain, climbing toward the institutionalized spy business we all know so well now through James Bond. If you remember, Bond often wore a Royal Navy uniform when not out on a dangerous 007 mission. That was probably no accident. Nelson had a great deal to do with information gathering, organizing, and communicating important information to the Admiralty, vital ambassadors, and various sea captains. He often questioned merchantmen for intel when he could. He also wrote messages to those concerns and sent messenger ships with those letters to faraway destinations. Some got there in time to be effective. Some didn't.

Obviously, Nelson would be blown away by today's communications, and likely know these inventions could have saved many British lives in the Napoleonic era.

A sniper's bullet at the Battle of Trafalgar ended Nelson's brilliant run in 1805, and others have only learned from it since. There have been no other Horatio Nelsons. 

"Above all, Horatio Nelson was a superb intelligence officer," Maffeo notes in his conclusion. "And even if there had been another admiral as good at it as he was, there truly was no one else on his level regarding the translation of intelligence information into at-sea command decisions."

Maffeo's content cuts swiftly along with strong transition, taking you from one chapter to another, from one campaign to another. Another reason for a possible later reread.

As a graduate student in London in 2001-2002, I occasionally walked past Nelson's statue high above the pigeons in Trafalgar Square. I wanted to know more about him but had other direct assignments at the time. Some good things take time.