59-788: Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming KCMG CB (1 April 1859 – 14 June 1923) was a British naval officer who served as the first chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). He was a great-great-grandson of the prominent merchant John Smith, a director of both the South Sea Company and the East India Company , the second son of Abel Smith (d. 1756), the Nottingham banker who founded
118-617: A Fairey Seafox . Upon arrival in Halifax, Emerald was assigned to North Atlantic convoy escort duty for the return voyage. The large convoy was filled with American munitions for the war effort. Since the Emerald had been designed and equipped for work in gentler climates this was very uncomfortable as well as dangerous duty. The Canadian Red Cross provided a large supply of warm gloves, woolen scarves, sea boot stockings, leather headgear lined with wool and fur, and woolen underwear, for
177-507: A destroyer , HMS Ruby . He spent the next period on course at Portsmouth and studying at the Royal Naval College , Greenwich . He was promoted to lieutenant on 30 June 1912. After his courses were complete, Agar was assigned to small ships, his first being Torpedo Boat No. 23 . In April 1913 he was sent to learn to fly. It was not entirely his métier , though he obtained his licence after enduring three crashes in
236-632: A secret agent of dubious veracity based in Saint Petersburg . At the outbreak of war he was able to work with Vernon Kell and Sir Basil Thomson of the Special Branch to arrest twenty-two German spies in England. Eleven were executed, as was Sir Roger Casement , found guilty of treason in 1916. During the war, the offices were renamed. The Home Section became MI5 or Security Service, while Cumming's Foreign Section became MI6 or
295-437: A 5,650 ton second class cruiser , HMS Highflyer , and afterwards on the slightly older HMS Isis . These ships were stationed at Bermuda and many classes were held ashore when the ships were in port. Agar had many pleasant memories of sports, swimming, boating and picnics during this period. Agar served at sea in a number of ships in the prewar period, including the battleships HMS Prince of Wales attached to
354-594: A C eventually written in green ink. That habit became a custom for later directors, although the C now stands for "Chief". Ian Fleming took these aspects for his " M " from the James Bond novels. In 1914, he was involved in a serious road accident in France in which his son was killed. Legend has it that to escape the car wreck he was forced to amputate his own leg using a pen knife. Hospital records have shown, however, that while both his legs were broken, his left foot
413-742: A banking dynasty and whose business much later became National Westminster Bank , now one of the largest banks in the United Kingdom. His father was Colonel John Thomas Smith of the Madras Royal Engineers who became Master of the Madras and Calcutta Mints and designed a machine for minting coins that was displayed at the Great Exhibition in 1851. Smith joined the Royal Navy and underwent training at Dartmouth from
472-607: A decade after the Second World War . The title was probably used informally up until the abolition of frigate and destroyer squadrons with the Fleet FIRST reorganisation circa 2001. Ashore, the rank of captain is often verbally described as "captain RN" to distinguish it from the more junior Army and Royal Marines rank , and in naval contexts, as a "four-ring captain" (referring to the uniform lace) to avoid confusion with
531-741: A friendly country with interesting work and regular cruises through the South Seas. On 1 January 1924, at the request of King George V , Agar was appointed captain of the Royal Yacht HMY ; Victoria and Albert , another pleasant duty. He served until January 1925. A great professional assignment in April 1926 was command of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet . The commander in chief, Admiral Sir Roger Keyes , specifically asked for Agar. Keyes
590-464: A number of forts and ships guarding the entrance to the Bolshevik naval base at Kronstadt and to Petrograd , now St. Petersburg . Also operating in the eastern Baltic Sea was a Royal Navy detachment of light cruisers and destroyers under Admiral Sir Walter Cowan . Though technically not connected, Agar regularly reported to Cowan and received assistance from him. Cowan's mission was to keep
649-456: A receipt is to be forwarded to C-in-C Western Approaches on the attached form. On 7 October 1939, Emerald sailed from Plymouth , England for Halifax, Nova Scotia with the gold bullion from the Bank of England bound for Montreal, Quebec , Canada to be used to pay for American war materials. This voyage was a component of Operation Fish , the transfer of British wealth to Canada, and was under
SECTION 10
#1732792959247708-468: A shuttle service. The Bolsheviks had seized much of the Russian fleet at Kronstadt , and Agar considered these vessels a menace to British operations and took it upon himself to attack the enemy battleships. He set out with his two boats, HM Coastal Motor Boat 4 and another, on 17 June 1919. One had to turn back before completing its mission, but Agar continued into the bay. The battleships were not in
767-670: A special unit consisting of 60 Irish street agents managed by communications from Scotland Yard in London. On Sunday, 21 November 1920, the Headquarters Intelligence Staff of the IRA and its special Counterintelligence Branch under the leadership of Michael Collins assassinated 14 of Cumming's case officers. Many agents appear to have escaped the IRA execution squads that morning, but Whitehall feared that more of its professional agents would be identified and suffer
826-648: A visit to China. Augustus ("Gus") Agar attended Framlingham College in Suffolk . He was now without parents or a fixed home and his oldest brother, Shelton, determined that he should go into the Navy. Gus, who idolized his older brother, willingly agreed. To prepare, he attended Eastman's Royal Naval Academy in Southsea . A friend of the family, Captain Henry Jackson , later First Sea Lord and an Admiral of
885-587: Is equivalent to a colonel in the British Army and Royal Marines , and to a group captain in the Royal Air Force . There are similarly named equivalent ranks in the navies of many other countries. In the Royal Navy, the officer in command of any warship of the rank of commander and below is informally referred to as "the captain" on board, even though holding a junior rank, but formally
944-486: Is titled "the commanding officer" (or CO). Until the nineteenth century, Royal Navy officers who were captains by rank and in command of a naval vessel were referred to as post-captains ; this practice is now defunct. Captain (D) or Captain Destroyers, afloat, was an operational appointment commanding a destroyer flotilla or squadron , and there was a corresponding administrative appointment ashore, until at least
1003-505: Is to be embarked in each ship to Halifax. A railway truck is expected to be placed alongside each ship about 01.00 October 7. Each truck is expected to contain 148 boxes each weighing 130 lbs. The total number of boxes is numbered Z 298 to Z 741 inclusive. Guards are to be put on each truck on arrival at the ship. Embarkation is to commence about 06.30 or as soon as daylight permits. Adequate steps are to be taken for supervision of each box from unloading from truck to stowage in ship. Finally
1062-759: The First and the Second World Wars . He was a recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, for sinking a Soviet cruiser during the Russian Civil War . In his naval biography, Footprints in the Sea , published in 1961, Agar described himself as "highly strung and imaginative." The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says that Agar "epitomizes
1121-717: The HMS Venus as it became coastguard ship at Southampton . Prior to being appointed to run the Secret Service Bureau (SSB), he was working on boom defences in Bursledon on the River Hamble . He added the surname Cumming after his marriage in 1889 to Leslie Marian Valiant-Cumming, heiress of Logie near Forres in the County of Moray . In 1909, Major (later Colonel Sir) Vernon Kell became director of
1180-452: The Mediterranean Fleet , and HMS Queen , commanded by Captain (later Admiral) David Beatty . He greatly admired Beatty's dash and style. Agar's early training gave him a thorough grounding in basic naval matters, especially in handling small boats. This was to prove a great asset later in his career. In 1910 Agar passed his seamanship examination with flying colours and was made an acting sub-lieutenant . During 1911, he served aboard
1239-509: The Royal Naval College, Greenwich , England, but with war in the offing he was returned to command of the Emerald in the summer of 1939. When war began on 3 September 1939 Agar was in command of the Emerald and, as in 1914, was directed to Scapa Flow . His ship was soon ordered onto the "Northern Patrol", between the Faroe Islands and Iceland , to intercept any German merchant ships trying to return to their homeland. A second duty
SECTION 20
#17327929592471298-552: The Russian Revolution was beginning. She operated out of Archangel in the summer when the White Sea was clear, and from the ice free Murmansk in the winter. Although it was apparent to local Allied commanders that the materiel landed after the spring of 1917 was not being put to good use, their advice to stop the flow was ignored by Whitehall . Indeed, much of the materiel was either destroyed or ended up being used by
1357-567: The 'sea dog' of British naval tradition: honourable, extremely brave and totally dedicated to King, country and the Royal Navy." Augustus Agar was born in Kandy , Ceylon, on 4 January 1890. He was the thirteenth child of John Shelton Agar/Eagar, an Irishman from Milltown, County Kerry , who had left his native land in 1860 to become a successful tea planter in Ceylon. John's cousin Honora Eagar
1416-612: The 4,190 ton anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curlew , part of the Reserve Fleet at the Nore . Then, from 15 January 1937 he commanded his favourite ship, the 7,300-ton light cruiser HMS Emerald , which, along with her sister, HMS Enterprise , was the fastest ship in the Royal Navy at 35 knots. Emerald was attached to the East India Station from January 1937 to July 1938. Agar then served as captain of
1475-707: The Baltic Sea , where CMBs were to be used to ferry British agents back and forth from Bolshevik Russia. The shallow draught and high speed of the CMB made it ideal for landing on enemy occupied shores and making a quick getaway. Agar and his two boats were technically under the command of the Foreign Office (specifically Captain Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming head of MI6). Agar set up a small base at Terijoki , just inside Finland and close to
1534-762: The Bolsheviks or the Germans. While at Murmansk, Agar had the opportunity to renew acquaintance with Russian officer friends from the cruiser Askold , which was berthed alongside. He had served with them in the Dardanelles when he was on HMS Hibernia . He met them again at the Devonport dockyard . However, mutiny soon broke out on the Askold , and Agar was shocked to see his officer friends arrested one by one and taken ashore, not to be seen again. Discipline aboard
1593-580: The British coast by German ships. Because of their slow speed and weak offensive power, the pre-dreadnought battleships were not ordered to join the Grand Fleet for the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, though they got up steam pending the outcome of the engagement. After Jutland the battleship threat from Germany receded somewhat and the danger from mines and submarines grew. Especially vulnerable were
1652-451: The Fleet , nominated Agar for a place in the annual intake of naval cadets. After time spent with a "crammer", he passed the entrance exams and in 1904 joined the naval cadet school, HMS Britannia , at Dartmouth . The Britannia was a wooden man of war , obsolete when launched in 1860, and soon tied up and used as a stationary training ship. As a part of his training, Agar went to sea in
1711-517: The German fleet at its anchorage. However, the Armistice occurred on 11 November 1918 before these plans could be put into effect. It was as a torpedo and mining officer that Augustus Agar was selected for this service. He participated in the famous raid on Zeebrugge led by Acting Vice-Admiral Roger Keyes , CMBs being used to lay smoke screens outside the mole to cover the escape of the crews of
1770-575: The Secret Intelligence Service. Agents who worked for MI6 during the war included Augustus Agar , Paul Dukes , John Buchan , Compton Mackenzie and W. Somerset Maugham . When the SSB discovered that semen made a good invisible ink , his agents adopted the motto "Every man his own stylo ". However, the use of semen as invisible ink was ceased because of the smell it produced for the eventual receiver. It also raised questions over
1829-750: The Soviet frontier. From here he undertook a top secret and dangerous mission to retrieve Paul Dukes , a man he knew only by the MI6 codename ST-25, from the coast of the Bay of Petrograd. The last British agent left in Russia, Dukes had been infiltrating the Bolshevik government for some time and had made copies of top secret documents. A master of disguise, he was known as "The Man with A Hundred Faces", but his resources had run out by this time. In order to spirit Dukes away, Agar's boats had to cross Bolshevik minefields and pass by
Mansfield Smith-Cumming - Misplaced Pages Continue
1888-457: The age of twelve and was appointed acting sub-lieutenant in 1878. He was posted to HMS Bellerophon in 1877, and for the next seven years served in operations against Malay pirates (during 1875–6) and in Egypt in 1883. However, he increasingly suffered from seasickness , and in 1885 was placed on the retired list as "unfit for service". In early 1903 he was posted (as a retired lieutenant) to
1947-656: The blockships. During the summer of 1918, he was stationed at Dover and at Dunkirk , where the CMBs attacked German patrol craft along the Belgian coast. The end of the war found him at the CMB base at Osea Island in Essex , England. He was asked in late 1918 by Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming , head of the foreign section of the British Secret Intelligence Service , to volunteer for a mission in
2006-682: The fleet, the pre-dreadnoughts became increasingly obsolete, being slower, with much less firepower and poor design features. In the summer of 1915 it was decided to send Hibernia out to the Dardanelles to provide gunnery support to the Allied landings on the Gallipoli peninsula . She arrived in September 1915 at the Royal Navy base at Mudros on the Greek island of Lemnos at the entrance to
2065-412: The harbour though. CMB4 penetrated a destroyer screen and was closing on a larger warship further inshore when CMB4 , whose hull had been damaged by gunfire, broke down. She had to be taken alongside a breakwater for repairs and for twenty minutes was in full view of the enemy. The attack was then resumed and a Russian cruiser , the 6,645 ton Oleg was sunk, after which Agar retired to the safety of
2124-435: The harbour, and the attack was led by Commander Claude Dobson . They entered Kronstadt harbour, this time damaging two battleships, 17,400 ton pre-dreadnought Andrei Pervozvanny and dreadnought Petropavlovsk and sinking a submarine depot ship, the 6,734 ton Pamiat Azova . Paul Dukes, meanwhile, thinking Agar dead because of his failure to appear at their rendezvous point, resolved to leave Petrograd by land and
2183-516: The masturbatory habits of the agents. The Government Committee on Intelligence decided to slash Kell's budget and staff and to subordinate MI5 under a new Home Office Civil Intelligence Directorate led by Special Branch's Sir Basil Thomson in January 1919. The powerful partnership of MI5 and Special Branch had managed counterintelligence and subversives during the war, but that was suddenly thrown into disarray. These bureaucratic intrigues happened at
2242-559: The new Secret Service Bureau and created as a response to growing public opinion that all Germans living in England were spies. In 1911, the various security organizations were re-organised under the Bureau, Kell's division becoming the Home Section, and Cumming's becoming the new Foreign Section, responsible for all operations outside Britain. Over the next few years he became known as 'C', after his habit of sometimes signing himself with
2301-469: The open bay under heavy fire. For this he was awarded the Victoria Cross on 22 August. Realizing the utility of the CMBs, Cowan ordered more to be sent out from England to add to his fleet. On 18 August 1919, Agar took his remaining boat against the Soviets , acting as guide-ship to a flotilla of six others, leading them through the minefields and past the forts. Agar's boat was ordered to stay outside
2360-429: The rank of captain and above wear gold-laced trousers (the trousers are known as "tin trousers", and the gold lace stripes thereon are nicknamed "lightning conductors"), and may wear the undress tailcoat (without epaulettes). Augustus Agar Russian Civil War Second World War Augustus Willington Shelton Agar , VC , DSO (4 January 1890 – 30 December 1968) was a Royal Navy officer in both
2419-538: The same fate; this prompted the hasty withdrawal of most of the remaining SIS agents from Ireland in the days that followed. A blue plaque was unveiled on 30 March 2015 in Cumming's name at the SIS headquarters at 2 Whitehall Court . Captain (Royal Navy) Captain ( Capt ) is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy . It ranks above commander and below commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank
Mansfield Smith-Cumming - Misplaced Pages Continue
2478-459: The sea lanes open to the newly independent Finland , Latvia , Estonia and Lithuania , which were under threat of being overrun by Soviet Russia. On their missions Agar and his crews dressed in civilian clothes to maintain the fiction that Britain was not involved. They had a uniform on board in case they were in danger of capture. Without the uniform, they could be shot as spies. Agar felt that his small force should be doing more than acting as
2537-486: The ship broke down completely and, after the last of the food and supplies were consumed, she was abandoned to rust away. This difficult and occasionally dangerous mission occupied the Iphigenia until the end of February 1918, when worsening conditions and a hostile Bolshevik government prompted a withdrawal. The British were able to take away with them a number of Russians fleeing the Bolsheviks. The Russian experience
2596-618: The straits leading to the Black Sea . The sheltered waters of the Aegean Sea and the straits enabled Hibernia to use all her guns and she was employed in firing at Turkish targets on Gallipoli and the nearby Asia Minor shore. She was hit once by a Turkish shell, but not seriously damaged. Hibernia returned to Britain when the Allies evacuated Gallipoli and was stationed at Rosyth with others of her class to guard against raids on
2655-513: The strictest secrecy, with the crew were outfitted with tropical whites to confuse German agents. In the company of the two old battleships, HMS Revenge and HMS Resolution , her sister ship, Enterprise , and the old cruiser HMS Caradoc , she ran into some of the heaviest seas that Agar encountered. By the time they reached Halifax the Emerald had lost her ship's boats, rafts and various depth charges, wires, shackles and other valuable equipment, not to mention her spotter plane,
2714-515: The title of a seagoing commanding officer. In the Ministry of Defence , and in joint service establishments, a captain may be referred to as a "DACOS" (standing for deputy assistant chief of staff) or an "AH" (assistant head), from the usual job title of OF5-ranked individuals who work with civil servants. The rank insignia features four rings of gold braid with an executive curl in the upper ring. When in mess dress or mess undress, officers of
2773-536: The two ports of Murmansk and Archangel in North Russia used by British merchant ships taking materiel to their ally. Mine-sweeping naval trawlers were sent to counter this threat, and two old cruisers were modified to act as repair workshops and headquarters for this flotilla . Agar joined one of them, HMS Iphigenia , as executive officer in December 1916. The Iphigenia dated from 1892, displaced 3,400 tons and in her early days could make 20 knots. Iphigenia arrived at Murmansk in March 1917, just as
2832-534: The very moment when the Irish abstentionist party Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) were launching their own independence campaign. Cumming and SIS (then MI1(c)) organized a new espionage unit in Ireland in mid-1920 called the Dublin District Special Branch. It consisted of some 20 line officers drawn from the regular army and trained by Cumming's department in London. Cumming also began importing some of his own veteran case officers into Ireland from Egypt, Palestine, and India, while Basil Thomson organized
2891-410: The very primitive aircraft of the time. He joined the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Hibernia in September 1913, attached to the Home Fleet . Agar was aboard Hibernia when the First World War broke out in August 1914, and soon sailed with her to Britain's wartime base at Scapa Flow . He was a part of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe 's Grand Fleet . As newer and faster dreadnoughts joined
2950-435: The wars. His first, in June 1920 was as executive officer aboard HMS Chatham , a 5,400 ton light cruiser assigned to the newly formed New Zealand Naval Forces , later known as the New Zealand Division (then still part of the Royal Navy). In 1922 he was given command of HMS Philomel , an obsolete cruiser of 2,575 tons used as a training ship for the New Zealand Division. These were very happy years for Agar, in
3009-404: Was amputated only the day after the accident. Later he often told all sorts of fantastic stories as to how he lost his leg and would shock people by interrupting meetings in his office by suddenly stabbing his artificial leg with a knife, letter opener or fountain pen. Budgets were severely limited prior to World War I , and Cumming came to rely heavily on Sidney Reilly (aka the Ace of Spies ),
SECTION 50
#17327929592473068-411: Was an outstanding leader and brought the fleet to the height of its efficiency. The flotilla consisted of four ships, and Agar commanded the flotilla leader HMS Witch until July 1927. By the late 1920s, Agar and his wife were living apart; they divorced in 1931. This probably had an adverse effect on his chances for promotion, keeping him from reaching flag rank . After these assignments, Agar
3127-400: Was awarded the DSO . Dobson and another officer Gordon Steele received Victoria Crosses. The British naval presence in the Baltic Sea was crucial to securing the independence of Estonia and Latvia . Immediately following his Baltic experiences, Agar returned to Osea Island. On 20 July 1920 he married Mary Petre, 19th Baroness Furnivall . Agar held a number of seagoing commands between
3186-421: Was forced to jump from tram to tram in the city to shake off Cheka agents. After a series of extraordinary adventures through war-torn Latvia under a variety of disguises, he got back to London with his secret documents copied onto tissue paper. He was subsequently knighted by King George V , and remains the only man to be knighted based entirely on his exploits as a spy. For his part in the Kronstadt action, Agar
3245-569: Was of value to Agar later in his career. Agar served in the Coastal Motor Boats (CMBs) in home waters during the latter part of the war. These small vessels displaced just 5 tons, compared to the 1,110 tons of a First World War era destroyer . Their main offensive weapon was a torpedo . They were of shallow draught and could operate close inshore. The CMBs carried one or two torpedoes, depending on whether they were "forty footers" or "fifty-five footers". Mines could be substituted for torpedoes and they also carried depth charges and Lewis guns . It
3304-412: Was planned that they be either towed or carried into battle on the German controlled coast by the light cruisers and destroyers of Commodore Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt 's Harwich Force . With their shallow draught they could skim over the mines and attack the German patrol craft around Heligoland . As 1918 wore on a more ambitious scheme matured to send the CMBs in over the shallow coastal waters to attack
3363-531: Was sent on courses and on shore duty for several years, including a stint as naval advisor to the New Zealand Delegation to the London Naval Conference 1930 . On 30 September 1930, Agar was placed in command of the sloop HMS Scarborough attached to the North America and West Indies Squadron . During this time he married Ina Margaret Lindner in Bermuda , a union which lasted the rest of his life. He served aboard Scarborough until September 1932. Other seagoing commands followed, first in early 1936 aboard
3422-537: Was the first wife of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa , an Irish Fenian leader and member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood . Agar was brought up in comfortable circumstances in a fine house with servants. Agar's mother, who was Austrian , died shortly after his birth, and at the age of eight he was sent with one of his brothers to school in England. All his brothers were educated in English public schools, and all his sisters were educated in Austrian or German schools. His father died in 1902 of cholera which he had caught during
3481-433: Was to stop neutral ships and check for contraband headed for Germany. Emerald had just returned to Scapa on 1 October 1939 when Agar received "Top Secret" orders to proceed "with all despatch" to Plymouth, England. On 3 October, Emerald dropped anchor in Plymouth. A short time later Agar was being briefed by Rear Admiral Lancelot Holland on his mission. The written instructions were: Two million pounds in gold bars
#246753