Strange Intelligence: Memoirs of Naval Secret Service

Hector C. Bywater was perhaps the British secret service's finest agent operating in Germany before the First World War, tasked with collecting intelligence on naval installations. Recruited by Mansfield Cumming, the first 'C' (or head of what would become MI6), Bywater was given the designation 'H2O' in what was a rather obvious play on his name - and the equivalent of James Bond's '007'. Indeed, the charming, courageous Bywater probably came as close to the popular image of Ian Fleming's ...