The work of the naval spy in time of peace is best illustrated by the
record of cases which have actually come to light through actions taken
in the courts. One noteworthy case is that of Sub-Lieutenant Ullmo, a
gifted naval officer of the French service, serving in the Republican
warship _Carabine_. Ullmo was an officer of undoubted ability, but he
came under the influence of a female spy, known to him and his fellows
as Lison, who persuaded him to set up an establishment for her and
managed to secure his assent to a plan by which this establishment,
maintained at his expense, was to be converted into an opium-den. So
great an ascendancy did Lison gain over her victim that in a period of
two years he had spent 3,000 pounds, which was all that was his in the
way of capital and income apart from his pay. His position in the
service rendered money a necessity, and, once his private fortune was
gone, Lison pointed out to him that more money could be obtained. As
soon as she spoke of the means by which he could obtain money he
repudiated the suggestion, but, by working on his jealousy with regard
to her acquaintance with a brother officer, she secured his consent to a
bargain by which he was to give up the secret documents kept in a safe
on board his ship, in return for a price which was fixed at more than
ten times his previous competence. The bargain was to be arranged by
the medium of advertisements, and it was through the wording of these
advertisements that the plot was detected by the French secret service.
Ullmo's reward for his treachery was degradation from his rank and
imprisonment for life, and Lison put in an appearance at his trial in
order to watch the proceedings as an uninterested spectator.
The system of counter-espionage thus evidenced on the part of a foreign
Government has its counterpart in the British service. Since Britain is
the most powerful enemy Germany has to fear in a naval sense, it follows
that German naval espionage is principally directed against Britain, and
that the establishment of naval spies is greater in this country than in
any other. It is safe to say, however, that the majority of the fixed
posts of the German naval service in Britain are known to the police,
and that, as soon as information which, in the opinion of the British
naval authorities, is of value, is in danger of being communicated to
Germany, action is taken to prevent the transmission of the spies'
reports to headquarters. A case in point is that of Doctor Max Schulz,
who, charged with espionage at Devon Assizes, was sentenced to a year
and nine months' imprisonment for acts attempted rather than acts
committed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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