Concealment Ciphers
Concealment ciphers, ciphers that are concealed (not obvious), have been used successfully
in some very important matters. Long ago, in England during the time of Cromwell,
Sir John Trevanion was locked up in Colchester Castle. He had been accused of a crime against his government and was waiting to be put to death. One day, he received
the following letter from his loyal servant R. J.:
Worthie Sir John:- Hope, that is the best comfort of the afflicated, cannot much,
I fear me, help you now. That I would saye to you, is this only: if ever I may be
able to requite that I do owe you, stand not upon asking me: Tis not much I can
do: but what I can do, bee you verie sure I wille. I knowe that if deathe comes, if ordinary
men fear it, it frights not you accounting is for a high hounour, to have such a
rewarde of your loyalty. Pray yet that you may be spare this soe bitter, cup I fear
not that you will grudge any suffereings; onlie if bie submission you can turn them away,
this the part of a wise man. Tell me, as ifyou can, I do for you anythinge that
you can wolde have done. The general goes back on Wednesday. Restinge your servant to command. R.J.
Can you figure out the secret cipher in the message above? Looking carefully at the
letter it appears that the writer doesn't spell very well and doesn't know how to
use punctuation either. Perhaps the misspelled words, misplaced letters, or punctuation
are actually a secret cipher?
After Sir John read his letter he asked to go to the chapel to pray in his last hour
before death. His jailers granted the request and waited for Sir John to finish
his prayers. After several hours they entered the chapel to find it empty. Sir
John had escaped!
The jailers analyzed the message and found that a concealment cipher was used to send
Sir John a secret message. By picking out the third letter after every punctuation
mark you get the message: panel at east end of chapel slides. Sir John made use
of this information to move the panel and escape. Can you come up with your own concealment
cipher? See if your friends can identify it!