Imprisoned and sentenced to execution, Sir John Trevanion had little chance of avoiding his terrible fate. Hours from death, he retained a slight hope that his faithful servant would rescue him. When the guards brought him the servant’s letter, his heart must’ve lifted. The message seemed mundane and rambling to the guards, but not to Sir John.

Worthie Sir John:- Hope, that is ye beste comfort of ye afflicted, cannot much, I fear me, help you now. That I would saye to you, is this only: if ever I may be able to requite that I do owe you, stand not upon asking me. ‘Tis not much that I can do: but what I can do, bee ye verie sure I wille. I knowe that, if dethe comes, if ordinary men fear it, it frights not you, accounting it for a high honor, to have such a rewarde of your loyalty. Pray yet that you may be spared this soe bitter, cup. I fear not that you will grudge any sufferings; only if bie submission you can turn them away, ’tis the part of a wise man. Tell me, an if you can, to do for you anythinge that you wolde have done. The general goes back on Wednesday. Restinge your servant to command. — R.T.

“Please allow me an hour of quiet reflection in the chapel,” Sir John requested of his captors. The guards allowed this last request to a man about to meet his maker. When they came for him an hour later, Sir John was gone.

Steganography

The letter the servant sent to Sir John Trevanion back in the 17th century was the first known example of steganography, a secret message hidden in plain sight. Talk about hidden history!  While the letter seemed innocent, Sir John read the secret message telling him how to escape. Only he and his servant knew the key to the cipher: look for the third character after any punctuation mark.  The deciphered message says: “Panel at east end of chapel slides.”  Sir John followed this instruction, found a tunnel beyond the panel, and made a successful escape.

As part of training for my day job in IT Compliance, I took a security class that included history of cryptography. Modern encryption and security protocols evolved from these ancient techniques. I loved that my day job in IT and my interest in history intersected. Cryptography, the art of private communication in a public environment, goes back to Ancient Greeks and Romans.

Scytale

One of the oldest examples of cipher goes back to Sparta around 400BC called Scytale, which means ‘staff’ in ancient Greek. Spartan generals carried a stick of a specific diameter. They would wrap a hide around the stick and write a secret message. Hopefully, they knew how to read and write! The message would be readable on the stick but look like gibberish without it.

Ceasar’s Cipher

Another famous example from the ancient world is Ceasar’s Cipher. The key was to move each letter by three positions, so A becomes D, B becomes E, and so on. To be tricky, one could move not by three positions, but by a different number!

A Love Poem with a Message

In my novella Hearts by the Sea, my characters used a cipher similar to Trevanion’s letter. Finally, I was writing what I know! Instead of the third letter, Jamie used every third word to hide a secret message meant for Ella. The message was disguised as a poem. Can you decrypt it?

There are times,

when two meet because fate,

 wants them tonight.

Ship sails at the; mercy of the sea.

The lonely beach is far.

Wind blowing at the sails.

More than eight miles to go

To be with you.

Sources:

SANS An Introduction to Cryptography by Keith Palmgren

Hearts by the Sea by Alina Rubin