Shhhh . . . It's a Secret (10-12)

Shhhh . . . It’s a Secret

By: Randi Lynn Mrvos

Let’s go back in time to the year 1890 and spy on a spy. We see Robert Baden-Powell, who later became the founder of the Boy Scouts. While on assignment for the British Army on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, he is disguised as a butterfly collector. In his sketch book he draws a winged insect with dark markings. But there’s more to his drawing than meets the eye. Shhh . . . it’s a secret.

Baden-Powell’s butterfly actually contains a hidden code about the shape of a fortress and the size of its guns.

Throughout history, codes or ciphers were used to secretly communicate important messages. Many people confuse the terms code and cipher. A code is a secret language used to disguise a message. It replaces words, phrases, or sentences with numbers, symbols, or letters. A cipher hides a message by scrambling the letters or substituting letters for other letters.

Ciphers are like codes, but have a secret key for encrypting the message. The key can be a word, a drawing, a number, or even a poem. The key is necessary in order for the message to be read.

There are two kinds of ciphers—transposition and substitution. In a transposition cipher, the letters of the message stay the same, only their order is changed. For instance, the word “butterfly” could be spelled backwards: YLFRETTUB. In a substitution cipher, the order of the letters stays the same. But each letter is replaced by another letter, a symbol, a picture, or a number.

Codes and ciphers have been used for thousands of years. Let’s journey further back in time to see how secret messages were sent. Lysander, a Spartan general who lived around 395 B.C., received a secret message written on the inside of a servant’s belt. The message could not be read until the belt was wound around a wood staff of a specific thickness. Then, the letters lined up to spell out the secret communication.

In Greece during the 5^th century B.C., an instrument called a Skytale was used by Greek rulers. Like Lysander’s belt, the Skytale was a leather scroll that could be wrapped around a stick. A message was written on the scroll and then the scroll was unwound. The gaps in the words were filled in with random letters. It could be read by using a stick having the same width. Skytale messages were sent to commanders during battles.

Roman Emperor Julius Caesar devised a secret code by moving the letters of the alphabet forward three spaces. A became D, B became E, and so on. The key number was usually three. When Caesar had anything private to communicate, he used a cipher.

During the Middle Ages (around 400 – 1500 A.D.), messages could be sent in plain text because few people could read or write. There was little risk if a message was intercepted that it could be read by just anyone. But codes and ciphers could only be used by royalty or people who worked for the royalty. If others tried, they were beheaded.

Mary Queen of Scots was no stranger to sending secret-coded messages. In them, she detailed a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England. Mary’s letters were captured by Elizabeth’s spy service and decoded. Unfortunately for Mary, the secret messages led to her execution in 1587.

From 1785 – 1793, after the Revolutionary War between the colonies and England, statesmen of the new nation sent secret messages. They used a code that consisted of numbers from 1 to 1,700 along with a list of letters, symbols, and words. In particular, James Madison, member of the new House of Representatives, resorted to using codes and ciphers because he constantly worried that unauthorized people would read his private and public correspondence.

Let’s re-visit Baden-Powell. His disguise allows him to spy. He observes the Austrian ports to see how well they are protected. He surveys the area and commits certain details to memory. Other details are copied onto the pages of his sketch book, in which he’s drawn butterflies and moths, some outlined, others finished. Within the drawing of a butterfly, he indicates the outline of a fort. Upon the wings, he adds dark marks to show the artillery guns. Several soldiers approach him, but Baden-Powell is confident about his disguise and his drawings. The soldiers glance at his book. They consider him a silly Englishman hunting insects. But little do they know that his sketches contain an ingenious secret code.

You can use codes or ciphers to send secret messages to your friends. See if you can solve this substitution cipher: PVCUREF EBPX

Here’s the key:

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Did You Know? The Enigma machine, a famous code maker, was invented in Germany. It was used by German soldiers, spies, and diplomats in the 1930s and during WWII. The Enigma was like a typewriter, but it scrambled messages into nonsense that could only be decoded by another Enigma machine. The receiving machine had to be set in the same setting in order for the message to be read. There were over a billion combinations and these changed daily. However, it became ineffective. Unknown to the Germans, the English had stolen an Enigma machine.

Did You Know? A Native American language code was used during World War II. It became one of the few unbreakable codes in history. The Navajo “code talkers” used their tribal language to transmit secret messages from field telephones. The language was difficult to learn and to speak correctly. For this reason, the code talkers usually worked in pairs. The Japanese enemy never understood what was said.

The author wishes to thank Jacqueline V. Eyl, manager of Youth Education of the International Spy Museum, for her expertise.

Answer: Ciphers rock

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