to William Le Queuex being described as "the first espionage novelist". That honor is usually assingned to Erskine Childers (1874-1922) , whose "Riddle of the Sands" (1903) is not only considered the first spy novel, but a rip-roaring good sea story of considerable literary merit as well. It was written as a polemic to alert the British Admiralty that a definite threat of a cross-channel invasion of Britain by Germany acoss the North Sea existed, and the book is said to have had a great influence on English Naval policy prior to WWI.

The book is available for reading online (for free!)

http://robroy.dyndns.info/books/rec/rs.html

and I strongly suggest you take advantage of the opportunity and do so right now! A first-rate film adaptataion of the novel starring Michael York and Jenny Agutter is also available on video.

Childers was a pretty colorful character himself, and crammed quite a bit of action into his short life. Besides being a decorated war hero himself, he also worked against his own country when he adopted the cause of Irish Independence. He married a swashbuckling Irish-American heiress and used his yacht (Childers was a fine seaman) to smuggle arms to Irish rebels. He was eventually executed by the British for his revolutionary activities in 1922.