Page 40 - All About History - Issue 52-17

Through History

SPY GADGETS

Long before James Bond graced at our screens, real-life 007s have been using
secret weapons to communicate covertly and fight hidden wars

Scytale 400 BCE

Pronounced like a rhyme for ‘Italy,’ a scytale was a baton that Spartan
military commanders used to send secret messages during battle. Writing
a message onto a strip of parchment or leather wound around the scytale, the
letters would appear scrambled when unwrapped from the rod. To decipher the code, the
recipient only had to wrap the message around their own same-sized scytale. Though crude by
This low-tech encryption
tool literally meant modern encryption standards, the scytale could be used quickly without making mistakes, even
on the front lines. However, the wooden rod was just as likely to be snapped in the heat of battle.
‘baton’ in Ancient Greek
coal torpedo 1864

Like the Confederacy’s own improvised explosive device, the coal Dr James
Jay
torpedo was used to blow up Unionist steam ships during the American 1732-1815, american
Civil War. A hollow casting filled with explosives and covered in coal This physician from a prominent New
dust, Confederate agents would hide the bombs among Union coal York family developed an invisible ink
that allowed George Washington and his
piles. When shovelled into a ship’s firebox, the resulting explosion could
revolutionaries to communicate during
cripple the engine, or even kill crewmen and passengers, start a fire, or the War of Independence. However,
sink the vessel. The device is thought to have brought down a number Jay later joined the Loyalists and
of ships, though documents confirming the attacks were burned during was exiled to England, while his
brother, John Jay, became the
the last days of the war.
US’ first chief justice.
British agents used similar
coal bombs to blow up Nazi
steam trains and factories
during WWII

Washington said the ink would
“relieve the fears of such persons
as may be entrusted in its
John conveyance.”
Walker The birds could
1937-2014, american produce more Sympathetic Stain 1778
detailed pictures
This former US Navy warrant
than other image- During the War of Independence,
pigeon camera working for the KGB from 1967 to 1985, capturing methods American revolutionaries communicated
officer initially sold secret codes to the
Soviets to pay off debts, but ended up
1917 recruiting his own family into his spy using an invisible ink George Washington
called ‘the sympathetic stain.’ This
ring. Ironically when he was caught
As far back as Ancient Rome, by the FBI, Walker was working required one chemical for writing the
carrier pigeons have been used as a private detective, finding message, plus a second to develop it for
as military messengers. But listening devices for added security. The secret solution was
clients.
during World War I, both sides used created by Dr James Jay, who used the
pigeons as spy satellites. The pigeons ink to smuggle military intelligence from
were fitted with cameras, which clicked away as they flew, London to America. He wrote this top-
snapping aerial shots of military sites. The pictures were secret information at the bottom of short,
then developed and used to study enemy weapons and friendly letters to his brother, John Jay, who
fortifications. Though soldiers would often try and shoot was one of Washington’s revolutionary
enemy war pigeons down to intercept messages, until the Patriots. James later supplied quantities of
1950s the birds had a 95 per cent success rate and were the ink to Washington and Silas Deane, a
decorated with medals for their service. revolutionary agent working out of France.
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