Digitised by Google Books from the collection at the University of Wisconsin https://books.google.com/books?id=JWXGAAAAMAAJ The Introduction, by the author, states "The purpose of this volume is to entertain rather than to instruct, and no historical importance is claimed for the disclosures it makes. They are based on episodes of the naval war which took place more or less behind the scenes, most of which are now revealed or elucidated for the first time. While naval intelligence or secret service work provides the keynote of the book, several chapters which bear no particular relation to this subject have been included because of their intrinsic interest and novelty….. To the editor of the Daily Telegraph my thanks are due for permission to make extracts from articles of mine which have appeared in that journal".https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Charles_Bywater Hector Charles Bywater Wikipedia. He  was a British journalist and military writer. An article about Hector Charles Bywater and his most  influential books http://www.microworks.net/PACIFIC/bases/pearl_inset.htm (archived https://web.archive.org/web/20230815213556/http://www.microworks.net/PACIFIC/bases/pearl_inset.htm )