passport signed by French Foreign Minister Vergennes with instructions to French officials: "We will and command you very expressly to let pass safely and freely, Mr. James Actzen, going to England, without giving him or suffering him any hindrance; but on the contrary giving every aid and assistance that he shall want or occasion for." In late November 1776 Aitken landed at Dover and, on December 7, he ignited a fire at the Portsmouth dockyard that burned from late in the afternoon until the following morning, destroying twenty tons of hemp, ten one-hundred-fathom (183 m) cables, and six tons of ship cordage. After failing to penetrate the security at Plymouth, Aitken proceeded to Bristol, where he destroyed two warehouses and several houses. On January 16, 1777, the British cabinet met in emergency session and urged immediate measures to locate the mysterious "John the Painter" (Aitken was a house painter). Guards were augmented at all military facilities and arsenals, and a reward was posted. By January 20 the cabinet, again in extraordinary session, discussed suspending habeas corpus and placing the country under martial law. Five days later the reward was increased to one thousand pounds, and newspapers reported panic throughout England. Aitken was soon apprehended, with a pistol and inflammables in his possession. He would not admit to the sabotage when interrogated, but eventually confided in a friendly American visitor who was secretly in the pay of the British. Based on these confidences, personal effects, including the passport from Vergennes, were located. His trial was speedy, and on March 10, 1777, Aitken went to the gallows at Portsmouth Dockyard, where his exploits had begun. His actions may have resulted in "arson in the Royal dockyards in the time of war" being added to the list of capital crimes in England, which was one of the last to be repealed. Notable individuals involved in espionage during American Revolutionary War George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, oversaw its espionage efforts Joseph Reed, Adjutant-General of the Continental Army, managed espionage operations Alexander Hamilton, chief staff aide to George Washington, managed espionage operations Elias Boudinot, Commissary General of Prisoners, involved in espionage operations Charles Scott, Brigadier General in the Continental Army, appointed as intelligence chief by Washington Benjamin Tallmadge, Continental Army officer, intelligence chief and leader of the Culper Ring Thomas Knowlton, Continental Army officer, commander of Knowlton's Rangers, a reconnaissance unit of the