I grabbed the opportunity to go to the National Archives in Kew for a short while this morning to have a look at some prize papers – papers in the archives relating to the capture of ships.
In almost all cases, these are made up of depositions and submissions to the Prize Court about who should be rewarded for the capture. In a few lucky cases, though, the bundles include log books and lists of crew members.
Because I’ve recently been thinking about whether the “Captain Hamon” in BN3 (the final document of the three commonly attributed to Bernardin Nageon de l’Estang) might actually be Jacques-Félix-Emmanuel Hamelin, I wanted to see La Vénus’ prize papers. Might they include a list of ensigns and sailors? It was worth a look.
HCA 32/1752 is divided into two parts: La Vénus’ prize papers are in Part 2. But unless you really enjoy grinding your way through interminable longhand legal wrangling, I would only recommend them over (say) Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. By which I actually mean: not at all.
The Timeline Problem
But the overall process of putting together the picture of Hamelin and La Vénus has revealed what could very well be a timeline problem with the “Hamon == Hamelin” hypothesis.
19th November 1809: Hamelin and his ship La Vénus were captured by HMS Boadicea
10th December 1810: Hamelin and the other Prisoners of War were sent on the Bombay Merchant to the Port of Morlaix (near Brest)
2nd February 1811: three frigates sail from Brest – Renommée (Commodore François Roquebert), Clorinde (Captain Jacques Saint-Cricq), and Néréide (Captain Jean-François Lemaresquier)
February 1811: Hamelin arrives back in Brest.
12th February 1811: Tamatave was captured by the brig HMS Eclipse
6th May 1811: the three French frigates arrive at Mauritius
19th May 1811: Roquebert’s squadron reaches (and recaptures) Tamatave
20th May 1811: Tamatave again falls to the British (though this time for good).
Ideally, we would expect this timeline to square with BN3:
I’ve been sick since the fall of Tamatave, despite the care of my friend the commander
[…]
When I am dead, Captain Hamon will give you the little that I possess that I saved during my adventurous life at sea.
From this, it would seem that BN3 was written either after the first fall of Tamatave (12th February 1811) or – perhaps more probably – its second and final fall (20th May 1811). Yet by then, Captain Hamelin had been captured for over a year and had been returned to France. Moreover, Hamelin, despite subsequently being made a Rear Admiral by Napoleon I and having his name engraved on the Arc de Triomphe, never again returned to the Indian Ocean.
I don’t know if this timeline definitively rules out the Hamon / Hamelin hypothesis: but it’s certainly not supportive of it just yet.
More as it happens.
Nick, probably totally off the wall, but were ships sometimes named after towns?
“In Hamlin town, long, long, ago,
the people were happy, no, no, no —
the pretty little town was full of rats…….
So, rats (often associated with sailing vessels) — and the ships you’ve just named ????
Do I need to throw myself off the dock?
Still beady-eyed, but can still sing somewhat in tune — hearing loss or not!
bdid1dr: sorry to have to interrupt your song, but Baron Jacques-Félix-Emmanuel Hamelin was a man, not a ship, so I somehow doubt he was full of rats. 🙂
Well, with a name like that, do you wonder why I’m confused? N-e-u-a, I’m heading back to Ricky Mc’s notes. Just be relieved that I didn’t bring up the subject of “bats in his belfry (Hamelin’s, that is.)
BTW: good morning!
bd
Hi, I read your post of codes used in the Second World War and I need your help, can I contact you in any way?
I am a resident of a village in Spain and recently I was researching the “indecipherable code Didac Sanchez” and I came across your web, since then I have been researching and I find “locked”.
I need your help
write me to my mail bryanjx69 attt gmail dottt com
Sorry for my bad English, (google translator) XD
Aiden Pearce: here in the UK, Didac Sanchez is what we would call “a colourful character”. The world of startups is full of people who excel at what is called “startup theatre”, and his “indecipherable code” would seem to be a stage prop in Sanchez’s particular style of startup theatre.
The code you’re talking about seems to be a transposition code of some sort, very probably devised by a non-classically-trained crypto person and based around a visual trick. Like the real WW2 pigeon cipher, the coded message has a five letter “indicator” at the start that is repeated at the end: this very likely controls the transposition order within the range of transpositions allowed by the visual trick.
This would mean that there would only be 26^5 candidate permutations to consider (i.e. just short of 12 million), which wouldn’t be very secure if you happened to know the visual trick. Which is why it looks as though a non-classically-trained crypto person designed it, because it would be something you could break within a few seconds, even on a smartphone. Which is why it is more about theatre than cryptology.
Then the code that presents “,” is nothing more than a meaningless code?
I downloaded visual basic, to recreate the code.
are two days to end the contest and have only three attempts to win, there are many reasons why I want to win these 40k, could you work with me? obviously the prize would be split.
I do not have very clear if you can or not decipher, we could communicate via Skype?
I have long been trying to decipher the code and after ler your post I realize that I am nothing more than a person of level 1 compared with you, my grades have fallen and I feel a little desperate and I need to win anyway. …
forgive if annoying …
You can tell they are words of a desperate guy
Then the phrase that would be hidden in a visual trick crypto for example:
-the fast horse gallop
Sorry to bother you but if I would help would be a great blessing.
and I feel again have to use google translator to communicate
“GDNFP IUALI ZOANN EEING DUORL IELTE ROMSO EVCIS
AIFON NBNTN IEPSR LAAAT JELAE IMIRN RSNEP IADIA
NIATD DPVRO RURLU UAELP RLASR AAOSQ PDSOY EMINL
RIDLN NSIEA AEULA AFSTO DIIUF RRRCG EEZIS BAXTI
MMORI ORANO FHDER DCNNT NRADA ETAER CDNIO EEAIO
EROMT TUDVI AOCDS RHSEU RLALQ CCOCC MIEON NRNIT
TOESF OAAMN ANTAO OICEJ TOSBD DEPIR OIANE AOZUE
ECCCN IAEIS REECI IRNUR IATCE FSEUC EIENC ROASP
COPSU LNUTI VOUES RACCR SYNCA MROIU TLJOB UVSOO
JIRLE SSETU TNNOT ASRNE IOBCU NALEU OMEER GINOU
AAETL STHER ONLAR ROTIE LENDR AEEYO TRSBR TDRTE
HETRR ICUEL TRDCE ASNND TUCOD MDUJA OESPL RESEG
OMOCL TAMTI IEGLM AAERR RRSEN SIBAI EICDL RILCE
LOXES ELUEO CTANP TNRYU XGGTA NSTIO DSADC CDEER
EODNA SAALS CCZEE EENRE LAOOR VASHA SLEAJ CAITE
HRTER ELNIA GNTEL DSAAN EOFTD NURAD OSACE MDICR
IOACT NEERO OATCA IRPAO NISMD SVECT NLYLT TETNS
HSACL NETNL PGIEU EEEDL DCTSR PÑMDM ATUED OOSTS
YERCD TRCAO ANAIE EPSNR ZMMCI RIDIL RIAGD IOMRI
SAEAN VOLEE TBEOR OEEEA SEOEA EERAO OLSLM EAERO
ZUHVU ALEEM EONIA AOEEZ CEEON NNESO ANBMI DLFDP
LEIIS LQCMT UROIT SRAON EICLL IQCNL LIOIT RFAAN
NDMTL ECESN OCOIL STOPA OACIS SAVCN ALARE EAIEC
OSBNE OOHPS TSGLO LELDP MNGCM ORNUV LCLJG IINAM
AOCAS TSOIL NNELA ONTEE OAAOU LIADO VNSEL RSQAM
AOMOS CLVND IUREN TTEEA IIREE FOONN OORAP IYAAT
ESLAI INPSO EVARO ARONE OÑNNA IGOSI ZPENA UIAAO
LUEOA OERDH SVRTO MEOUI GADLR SDNIR BOESS NDTEA
PEMFI LEAUI UEEOD OSSEO RLRDI ILBEU OOLTC NDTAE
OSCMO OTASR SYDNO EMLMA EAEIR MIAAA IRUOR LESSC
ROULE TARAN ASNÑT UNUDS EOTHC EBEGI OEDTG LOPAL
LADAB DLISI SEDOE SRGDO OTODT AROAM CLCBE FDAEA
HIAAI LARAE BIBEV AAMNO AIAAE POARO IIEEA EYSAF
EEIEP RAGTE ANNOS OPLEA ACEDS IIIDA INZEA INNNC
YYAEB EEEPI CENCU TNOSD URJIO LDESA LIITN ODIAI
MEORE AEMUP EOCLE EOCAC AOC GDNFP”
Aiden: have you seen this post on Cipher Mysteries: http://ciphermysteries.com/2015/12/23/didac-sanchez-and-the-ww2-cipher-pigeon – this covers Didac Sanchez’s challenge cipher.
Nick & Aiden : Ahem ! I’m seeing ‘false spacing’ between the words; especially those ‘words’ which have groups of three “E” s or “I” s . So, since I also don’t see any punctuation or paragraph indentations, Sanchez is appearing ( to me-eny-ua ) as a
totallooney or just mentally retarded.
bdid1dr ( beady-eyed wonder ) (sumtimes just bd id wunderer) 🙂
bdid1dr: I don’t think you’re making any sense here. People have been discarding punctuation and dividing their cryptographic messages into equal sized blocks of letters for centuries, so that’s completely standard practice.
Well, you mention equal blocks of letters. I’m just puzzled at wooords which have three vowels or consonants in a row. Who knows, what language could be written in a drawwwl (for instance). Fooolery ? Forwaaard. Maaarch! ……
Be kind to your fine feathered friends, for they may be somebody’s mo–ther ! (Avery old marrrching song.)
bd
To continue the song: — who lives all alone in a swamp — where its always cold and damp……..
bd