23 - Intelligence

Summary

In the early nineteenth century there was no central naval intelligence service. iCommanders-in-chief established their own local networks based on personal contacts, and the information gathering of their scouting ships. It is still a little-known area of naval history and, to date there has been very little in the way of detailed academic study of the fascinating, but necessarily rather shadowy, subject. One of the problems confronting historians hitherto has been the paucity of primary source material and this has applied to Nelson as much as to any of his contemporaries. As a result, this important aspect of his work, especially during his time as the Mediterranean commander-in-chief, has hardly featured at all in the various biographies.

Once again, however, the new material enables us to shine new light into a hitherto dark area. As the letters, especially those found in the pressed copy letter-books, have been analysed, it has become clear that they include much secret material. Some relates to Nelson's relations with Sardinia and will be dealt with in the next chapter. There were also many references to information gathering and, as a result, it is now possible to show, really for the first time, that as well as being a brilliant fighting admiral, Nelson was also a master of intelligence. Detailed study of this aspect of his professional career is still proceeding: however, in the meantime, some of the new letters have been brought together in this section to demonstrate the nature of the material, and of the insights that emerging.

Contacts

One of the vital requirements for a successful intelligence service, in the days before wireless and satellites, was a large and efficient network of personal contacts, at key strategic locations. In this respect, Nelson started with an advantage in 1803. He had served in the area twice before – in 1793–1797 and 1798–1800. So he already knew many of the British diplomats working in the area. These included John Hunter, the Consul at Madrid, and his colleague James Duff in Cadiz. Nelson reminded Duff, on 4 October 1803 (414): ‘next January it is 27 years since our first acquaintance’, which means they must have met when he visited the area in 1777 as an acting lieutenant in the battleship HMS Worcester.