When the British liner The Duchess of Richmond docked in Halifax on September 7th 1940, few informed observers had any doubt what that all important cargo was.
Clearly it was the liner's one thousand Royal Navy sailors all set to man the 50 "destroyers for bases" ships that were busy arriving in Halifax that day to be de-commissioned by the US , handed over, and then promptly re-commissioned by the UK and Canada.
Of course, they were wrong --- the tale is far more interesting than that and little known even in Halifax, where it all began.
That it began at all in relatively unimportant Halifax was because even the most suspicious of isolationist Americans and imperialist Britons (and there were plenty of both in 1940) regarded Nova Scotia as friendly familiar ground and so a suitable neutral site for this historic exchange.
(Imagine instead trying to get the British to pick up the destroyers at the Boston naval station --- or having the Americans drop them off at the Plymouth naval station.
Both are convenient exchange points but far too heavily freighted with unhappier earlier Anglo-American associations to reassure uneasy public opinion on both sides.)
The "destroyer for bases" agreement had been very hotly contested indeed, but once won, its passage allowed FDR to call for a similar Lend-Lease mechanism a few months later and it can also be seen as a forerunner of the Marshall Plan a few years after that.
But what James Phinney Baxter III, the official historian of the OSRD , the American science research and development organization that gave us the Bomb among other things , meant by his comment what something else completely.
That 'something else' couldn't have appeared more inadequate for the high honour bestowed upon it : just a battered little black solicitor's deed case with a nondescript small ring of metal inside, small enough to fit in the palm of an adult hand.
Commonplace today - if your home has a $59 microwave oven , you have one - the tiny cavity magnetron was a huge, huge, huge breakthrough in radar.
Recall that at that very instant the Battle of Britain was being fought over radar equipment that soared high into the sky and covered acres of space.
But this new bit of radar kit could easy fit into a fighter plane and yet was much more accurate as well .
What was not to like about it ?
Most American military men at that time privately thought the British culture were all washed up and the Germans sure to win the ongoing battle over British skies.
When they saw the magnetron, their attitude changed overnight.
What ever its true worth over sky, land and sea in combat, clearly the biggest battle the magnetron ever won occurred in some hearts and minds that September in the sultry boardrooms of Washington DC.
Its arrival in Halifax on the same day as the destroyers for bases process began also was no coincidence ; the solicitor case was part of the the secret luggage brought by the famous *Tizard Mission.
As part of the "destroyer for bases" deal , the British had offered to freely giving all their best secrets (including the Bomb) to the Americans.
Surprisingly, until they saw the magnetron, it didn't seem the American military scientists could care less about this generous offer, so convinced were they that they already had the best of everything military !
Will there be a special 75th anniversary ceremony next year to mark this seminal event , with representative from America, Britain and Canada all sharing the stage in Halifax ?
An academic conference at the Maritime Museum - earnestly discussing the Atlantic triangle seventy five years on ?
I don't think so, not unless you and I write our elected government members and urge them to get cracking ....
* I recommend you read David Zimmerman's "Top Secret Exchange" to find out more about this little known Mission
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