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Naval Academy, along with other eighteen-year-olds joining a young but already proud elite. Conditions, while not as primitive as those inflicted on much younger Royal Naval cadets at Dartmouth, were nevertheless tough. A strict military infantry course was followed by nine months on a sailing training ship in the North Sea where the skills of seamanship, navigation and gunnery were all taught. A fellow cadet noted that Canaris never had any difficulty in the exams: ‘He was slow to speak but quick to listen.’ His sense of humour was also frequendy deployed. He showed himself to be stoic and surprisingly tough.
    Early in 1908, the cadets at Kiel received a visit from a Royal Navy training ship, HMS Cornwall , under the command of Captain William Reginald Hall, later to become the head of British Naval Intelligence. There is no evidence to suggest Hall took any interest in Canaris, but as he was gathering intelligence on all aspects of the German navy during his visit, he may well have noted some of the cadets he would have met.
    Later that year, Canaris was appointed the German equivalent of a midshipman on the cruiser Bremen , which fortunately brought him in contact with the Latin American world where he could perfect his Spanish, immersing himself in the culture and history of the countries he visited. It was also an opportunity to study the Royal Navy at close quarters, as the fleets of all the great powers cooperated in defending their commercialinterests in the region. Here Canaris already displayed the ‘finger tip instincts and ability to handle people’ 4 that were to prove his great gifts in later years. His command of Spanish and young seriousness of manner endeared him to many and the Greek connection was appreciated by well-read Latin Americans who themselves, in younger days, empathised with the Greek struggle for independence. The Chileans in particular took to him, and the links between the two navies were intimate. He was even decorated by the Chileans with the Order of Bolivar. By this time, Canaris spoke excellent Spanish with a Chilean accent and was an expert on all the political trends and personalities of the country.
    Within a year, however, it was back to Kiel and the demanding schedule of duty officer on a small torpedo boat in the North Sea. Even in peace, this was a challenging environment requiring high standards of seamanship and technical skill. According to reports, Canaris was virtually alone in not suffering from sea sickness. Those, including Admiral Dönitz, Hitler’s successor, who later claimed (in his case during his trial at Nuremberg) that Canaris was ‘never a proper naval officer’, confused loyalty with training. By the autumn of 1912, the twenty-five year old, now a lieutenant, was considered one of the best naval officers of his generation. By the time Canaris came to his beloved light cruiser Dresden , he had already made a firm reputation for being capable and reliable. A naval report describes his possessing a calm temperament well beyond his years, and an ability to deal with people that would be most ‘helpful in the political sphere’. But first Canaris had to learn about politics as they were practiced at the time, at their most haut-politique level, away from the banana republics of South America.
    The Balkan Wars and the need to secure German interests in the eastern Mediterranean provided a suitable occasion. Canaris was posted with the Dresden to the Adriatic and then Istanbul where, for the first time, the political problems of the time were thrown into sharp relief. One development in particular was sharply silhouetted: Anglo-German rivalry.
    Istanbul, as a diplomat before the First World War pointed out, was not just the capital of a state; it represented many powerful global commercial, political and religious interests which in the run up to 1914 seemed, to an intelligent eye, to be well embarked on collision course. If the