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to buy one themselves ‘as part of their war contribution’, which Miller gladly accepted. Meanwhile hangars and landing-strips had to be constructed at farms down the coast, and insurance (a nice touch) arranged for both plane and pilots. On 13 December 1941 the first survey was run. ‘Source’, reported Miller, ‘was not able to fly over all the coast line but was able to see the greater part. There was nothing to report.’ He speculated that the existence of a British plane flying over the coast at irregular intervals ‘may act as a deterrent to enemy activities’. In London Taylor said the report was ‘of considerable interest and we are very glad that this reconnaissance has now got under way’. In fact, no raiders or submarines were spotted by subsequent flights either. A similar coast-watching operation in Chile, involving both a plane and an eighty-ton schooner, also failed to spot any enemy activity, though a Chilean police source in November 1941 provided ‘reliable information to the effect that a submarine of unknown nationality had been reported east of Castro’, which suggested that the exercise might not have been at all futile.

The moment of maximum threat had passed, as, indeed, had the moment of maximum need in 1940-1 when, without the precious ‘Ultra’ signals intelligence obtained from German Enigma cyphers which later informed naval operations, the Admiralty were desperate for information from whatever source. Money was clearly no object. Early in 1941 Miller raised the possibility of buying information from a disaffected German embassy employee about the location of raiders, including the pocket-battleship Admiral Scheer. Despite ‘not attaching very much weight to the report’, Admiral Harwood, commander of the Royal Navy’s South American Division, thought this possible source of information should be followed up, ‘in view of the present raider position’. Miller reported that, having laid down certain conditions about the information – that it would have to be tested for genuineness and that ‘informant must state name of raider, armament, speed and approximate whereabouts’ over a period of fifteen days – a price of ‘105,000 Argentine pesos (approximately £6,250)’ had been quoted. Even though he also warned that ‘this might be a plant with object of:- 1. Leading our ships into a trap, or 2. Diverting them’, on 3 March London accepted the staggering cost (equivalent to something over £200,000 in current values) and Miller was instructed to go ahead.

Four days later there was information, though the source had not been able to fulfil all of Miller’s conditions. He stated that an 11,000-ton raider called Handelsschiff or Hilfskreuzer (literally, ‘merchant vessel’ and ‘auxilary cruiser’), flying the British flag, was scheduled to take on spares between 15 and 16 March at a specified position near Annobón island in the Gulf of Guinea off the African coast. ‘Failure of source to answer every question we asked’, suggested Miller, ‘seems to me to support his genuineness.’ Naturally the source was now keen to be paid. After waiting for two weeks without hearing anything, he put to Miller his suspicion that the raider had been caught by the Royal Navy, who were ‘keeping it dark and trying to swindle him’. He was, nevertheless, ‘still willing to play provided he is satisfied he is not being “done”’. London told Miller (for his personal information only) that ‘owing to raider activities attempt at interception had at last moment to be abandoned’, but he could tell his source that ‘owing to last minute mechanical breakdown his story could not be proved or disproved’, and that ‘at your discretion’ he could ‘pay source up to five hundred (repeat five hundred) pounds as token of good faith’. By committing what was still a very substantial sum of money (equivalent to over £18,000) just to keep him sweet, it is clear that Broadway not only regarded Miller’s German embassy source as highly promising, but was also extremely keen to acquire this particular kind of naval intelligence. The episode illustrates the lengths to which the