THE REASON WHY

Why has this book been written?

In October 1902, my friend Carruthers came to my office, and told me the story of the yachting trip that he and his friend Mr Davies had recently taken in the Baltic and the North Sea.

The account of his adventures both astonished and alarmed me, and when he asked for my help in preparing this book for publication, I agreed readily. It is well known that Britain's coastal defences are dangerously weak, so the secret information discovered by Carruthers and Davies is of great importance, and I fully support their wish to make this information public.

The difficulty they had was that an Englishman, from an old and famous family, would be shown in their story to be a traitor, and this would cause pain and misery to an innocent young lady, whom they are anxious to protect. The names Carruthers and Davies, therefore, are not their real ones, and the names of all other persons in this account have also been changed.

But why publish secret information of national importance? Should it not be kept secret, known only to the government, whose job is to make good use of such information?

Indeed, that would normally be the best thing to do, but not in this case. The government, although informed of the great danger facing this country, has chosen to do nothing – and that is the reason why this book has been written.

London, 1903

traitor n. someone who does something disloyal to his country 叛国者

缘起

为什么要写这本书呢？

1902年10月，我的朋友卡拉瑟斯来到我的办公室，向我讲述了不久前他和朋友戴维斯驾驶游艇在波罗的海和北海航行的故事。

卡拉瑟斯讲述的冒险经历让我既吃惊又担忧。所以，当他请我帮他写这本书来出版时，我欣然应允。众所周知，英国薄弱的海防危机四伏，卡拉瑟斯和戴维斯发现的秘密情报因此极为重要。所以，他们想要将这一情报公之于众时，我全力支持。

麻烦之处在于，他们将在书中揭露一位出身名门世家的英国男子的叛国罪行，但这样会伤害到一位他们竭力想要保护的无辜姑娘。因此，“卡拉瑟斯”和“戴维斯”两个名字并不是真名，故事中其他人物的名字也都一一做了改动。

可是，为什么要把国家级机密情报公之于众呢？难道不该只把它局限在政府范围内，由政府来行使职责、充分利用此类情报吗？

通常情况下这的确是最佳选择，但这次不一样。英国政府明明知道国家面临严重危险，却选择了不作为。因此，我们才写了这本书。

1903年于伦敦