A code of some 400 entries titled "CYPHER WITH CAPTAIN NELSON - F. DRAKE No.1" is presented by tonybaloney, of which a portion is given below after being sorted in numerical order.
It assigns code numbers to letters and words randomly (i.e., two-part code). Frequently used terms are given two or three numbers. Further, a single number may represent several variants. For example, 89 is listed as "th, is, ese, ose" and thus could be read either as "th", "this", "these", or "those." There are functional symbols such as "Take only first letter of the preceding number" (90, 126) or "Take only the first two letters of the preceding number" (140). Numbers above 400 are nulls. These features are also seen in French ciphers at the time as well as during the age of Louis XIV (see another article). (I do not have enough British materials to compare with this.)
The entries include "nelson, captain ...... 224", who was promoted to commodore under Admiral Jervis early in 1796, "bonaperte, general. 105.281", who won fame by crushing a royalist rebellion in Paris in October 1795 and was given command of the Army of Italy.
According to Hugo Mercier (2006), The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Adventure of Horatio Nelson, Francis Drake (Wikipedia), a diplomat based in Genoa, gave Nelson two ciphers in March 1796, one for letters he writes to Nelson and the other for those from the latter.
A partially encoded letter from Drake to Commodore Nelson dated Venice, 16 July 1796 is presented by tonybaloney. According to Mercier (2006), Drake was an important person in the intelligence network established by William Wickham (Wikipedia).
The main portion of the above letter can be decoded as follows.
Thus, Drake asks Nelson to inform Admiral Jervis that the Austrian general Wurmser (Wikipedia), soon to commence operations, is requesting the British navy to cover his line of communication.
General Napoleon Bonaparte had taken over command of the French Army of Italy and had already won initial victories. He had taken Milan after the Battle of Lodi and in June laid siege on Mantua, the strongest Austrian base in Italy. The above letter is about a planned reinforcement of the Austrian army under Wurmser.
In the end, Wurmser was trapped in Mantua and surrendered the town in February 1797 (Wikipedia).
1;dardanelles, the 51;port of bouc 101;bombard 2;blockade 52;geno, a, ese 102;troop 3;emperor, the 53;h 103;"full stop" 4;certain 54;shore 104;x 5;cape leucate 55;politics, of, the 105;bonaperte,general 6;division 56;lisbon 106;enemy, the 8;twenty 57;f 107;you 9;z 58;fleet 108;swed, e, n, ish 10;black sea 59;jervis, sir john 109;wallis, general 11;cartridge 60;sail, of 110;ahrenberg, prince of 12;thousand 61;"full stop" 111;compleat 13;cape 62;ninety 112;deck, ers 14;wallis, general 63;lavenza 113;emissary, of 15;t 64;indies, east 114;tuscany 16;bandol, town of 65;mediterranean 115;cape delle 17;toulon 66;pound sterling 116;expedition, to 18;embark, ation 67;hi, m, s 117;cassi, town of 19;with 68;fort of brescon 118;tower of bouc 20;ciotat, town of 69;navy 119;u 21;arsenal 70;secret intelligence 120;a 22;w, as, were 71;or 121;corsica 23;battalion 72;monaco 122;depart 24;brame, w 73;intercept 123;eleven 25;two 74;gourjean, bay of 124;the 26;var, the 75;m 125;we 27;possess, ion. 76;four 126;"Take only first letter 28;martigues 77;k of the preceding number 29;king, the, of 78;impolitic 127;cadiz 30;lead for a bullt 79;project, of 128;empire 31;regiment 80;sea, men 129;captain 32;o 81;frejus, gulf of 130;vado 33;naval stores 82;l 131;twelve 34;insurrection 83;o 132;went 35;plan of operations 84;half galley 133;antibes 36;ship, ping 85;few days 134;conde, army of 37;reinforce, ment 86;merchant, ship 135;destin, e, ation, the 38;saint chamas 87;powder-magazine 136;eight 39;man 88;rhone, mouths of 137;cannon 40;perpignan 89;th, is, ese, ose 138;the 41;galley 90;"Take only first letter 139;y 42;leghorn of the preceding number" 140;"Take only the first two letters 43;pink 91;six of the preceding number" 44;magazine, s 92;viceroy of corsica 141;beaulieu, general 45;impracticable 93;a 142;emigr, e, ant 46;laden with 94;cethe, town of 143;tunis 47;sicily 95;sixteen 144;armament 48;rom, e, an 96;villafranca 145;spa, i, n, ish, iard 49;politic 97;well-disposed 146;crew, s of 50;mantia 98;tentative 147;boat 99;company 148;w 100;dismantle 149;unservicable 150;to |