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The Ace of Spies and Other Significant Espionage Figures

Khalid Elhassan December 20, 2019 33 min

Detective - Mystery — Throughout history, spies have aroused mixed feelings of fear, loathing, and admiration. Mixed Matches

37. Reilly Riles Up the Far East

A Japanese print showing the destruction of a Russian ship during the Russo-Japanese War. Wikimedia

After the Boer War, Reilly spent years in the Far East, under cover of working for a trading company in Russian-controlled Port Arthur, Manchuria. There, Reilly not only spied for the British, but also got a side gig as a double agent spying for the Japanese, who were keenly interested in Port Arthur’s defenses.

Early in 1904, shortly before the Russo-Japanese War, Reilly stole the Port Arthur harbor defense plans for the Japanese. That helped the Japanese Navy to navigate through minefields protecting the harbor, and launch a surprise attack on the night of February 8 – 9, 1904, against the Russian Far East Fleet. Although Japan eventually won the war, that opening attack did not go exactly as planned. Still – things could have gone worse for the Japanese Navy if not for Reilly.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.