The bulk of the text, however, deals with the use of intelligence by the British government, especially the Admiralty, during the years between 1793 and 1815. Maffeo, who is a commander in a naval reserve intelligence unit, has combined his intelligence expertise with the skills of an accomplished historian to write this informative and most enjoyable history of British intelligence efforts during this period. His knowledge of the history of intelligence operations is excellent, and his grasp of the British navy of this era is unsurpassed. The opening chapter describes how the British government collected intelligence. It has been clear that Lloyd s of London, by means of its agents located around the world, was able to provide a continuous flow of intelligence to the government, but it is fascinating to learn that by virtue of opening diplomatic and personal mail, the British Post Office became the largest intelligence-gathering branch of the government.
Subsequent chapters treat other aspects of the British intelligence effort.
The Admiralty s collection and use of intelligence is discussed in depth, and so is the transmission of information. The difficulties are shown of sending any type of message, especially when the usual form of communication at sea was signal flags, which were useless at night or in limited visibility, such as in battle. The subject of several chapters is the commander as his own intelligence officer. However, all commanders had to sort through whatever information was available to them and make the best decisions they could they were literally on their own. Communications between detached fleets and the Admiralty often took weeks, if not months.