# Conan Doyle's "The Naval Treaty" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conan-doyles-the-naval-treaty/529680 "2010-02-19T20:39:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conan-doyles-the-naval-treaty/529680/1 "2010-02-19T20:39:13Z")
> **[The Naval Treaty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naval_Treaty)** > > "The Naval Treaty" is the third episode of the series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the first series in the Sherlock Holmes series which is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories. The series was produced by the British television company Granada Television between 1984 and 1994 and star Jeremy Brett as the famous detective. "The Naval Treaty" is based on the short story "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty". The episode first aired on 8 May 1984. > The episode opens on a rainy night. A frantic... Spoilers ahoy - what the hell, it was published in 1893! So it’s late, and Percy Phelps’s brother-in-law-to-be Joseph walks through the unattended side door at the Foreign Office and goes straight to Phelps’s office, where he grabs the Naval Treaty, and then he retraces his steps back outside. Would security really have been _that_ lax back then, especially after hours, or was ACD taking a little dramatic license? I have a hard time believing the side door wouldn’t have been locked, or that there wouldn’t have been a guard or commissionaire there. But no one in the story seemed to think it unusual at all. What say you? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conan-doyles-the-naval-treaty/529680/2 "2010-02-19T21:28:36Z")
Perhaps the commissionaire left the door unlocked for his wife? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conan-doyles-the-naval-treaty/529680/3 "2010-02-19T21:49:17Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Perhaps the commissionaire left the door unlocked for his wife? Or the wife left it open for her kid? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conan-doyles-the-naval-treaty/529680/4 "2010-02-19T21:50:25Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Would security really have been _that_ lax back then, especially after hours, or was ACD taking a little dramatic license? Well, they _are_ English. 🙂 A gentleman wouldn’t just walk in and take something. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conan-doyles-the-naval-treaty/529680/5 "2010-02-19T22:08:28Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > [The Naval Treaty - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naval_Treaty) > > Spoilers ahoy - what the hell, it was published in 1893! > > So it’s late, and Percy Phelps’s brother-in-law-to-be Joseph walks through the unattended side door at the Foreign Office and goes straight to Phelps’s office, where he grabs the Naval Treaty, and then he retraces his steps back outside. Would security really have been _that_ lax back then, especially after hours, or was ACD taking a little dramatic license? I have a hard time believing the side door wouldn’t have been locked, or that there wouldn’t have been a guard or commissionaire there. But no one in the story seemed to think it unusual at all. > > What say you? There was, and the commissionaire was asleep. Normally, the important papers were kept under lock and key, except when someone was actually using them. The lapse in this case was that the fellow had the papers out to copy and did not lock them away when he stepped out of the room. I don’t find this unbelievable. An intruder could lurk in those offices many a day and not come across anything of value or find such a fortunate series of coincidences (sleeping commissionaire, papers out of safe, no-one in the room). This was above all a crime of opportunity, based on an otherwise unlikely set of conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conan-doyles-the-naval-treaty/529680/6 "2010-02-25T15:11:00Z")
There were two doors opening to the outside. The commissionaire was dozing at one. The other was entirely unattended. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conan-doyles-the-naval-treaty/529680/7 "2010-02-25T16:43:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > There were two doors opening to the outside. The commissionaire was dozing at one. The other was entirely unattended. I agree that it does not make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conan-doyles-the-naval-treaty/529680/8 "2010-02-25T16:55:42Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > There were two doors opening to the outside. The commissionaire was dozing at one. The other was entirely unattended. You are correct. Nonetheless, normally there would be nothing to gain from invading the offices. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conan-doyles-the-naval-treaty/529680/9 "2010-02-25T16:59:37Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > You are correct. Nonetheless, normally there would be nothing to gain from invading the offices. Except for a spy looking for government secrets. But in this case the thief was a person who was expected as a visitor, and who stole the treaty on the spur of the moment, not a person who had come expecting to try and steal something. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conan-doyles-the-naval-treaty/529680/10 "2010-02-25T17:10:59Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Except for a spy looking for government secrets. But in this case the thief was a person who was expected as a visitor, and who stole the treaty on the spur of the moment, not a person who had come expecting to try and steal something. Normally, there would be no government secrets on display to steal. It was only because the fellow he was visiting was working late that the treaty was sitting out on the table - in usual circumstances, the treaty would be locked in a safe and the door to the office would itself be locked. If the fellow hadn’t been working late, there would be nothing to steal. If he hadn’t stepped out for coffee (because the consierge was asleep), he’d have been there himself to ensure no stealing happened.