The following message, with Elizebeth Friedman‘s decryption, is a message from “Consolidated Exporters” (a Vancouver Canada company illegally importing liquor into the US) to one of its fleet of about 50 “black ships”, the SS Noble. (They are called “black ships” because they “rum run” without lights at night to avoid detection.)

Many thanks to the George C. Marshall Foundation, Lexington, Virginia, for providing this reproduction!