Vigenère cipher was misattributed to Vigenère. David Kahn, in his book, "The Codebreakers" lamented the misattribution by saying that history had "ignored this important contribution and instead named a regressive and elementary cipher for him [Vigenère] though he had nothing to do with it". The Vigenère cipher gained a reputation for being exceptionally strong. Noted author and mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) called the Vigenère cipher unbreakable in his 1868 piece "The Alphabet Cipher" in a children's magazine. In 1917, "Scientific American" described the Vigenère cipher as "impossible of translation". That reputation was not deserved. Charles Babbage is known to have
Skeffington Lutwidge the Navy, and is listed as a lieutenant in 1763, taking command of the purchased cutter in April that year. He remained with her until 1765, serving in the area of Liverpool. Lutwidge, by now a commander, commissioned the bomb vessel in June 1771, and served in the Irish Sea until the "Carcass" was paid off in April 1773. The "Carcass" was then refitted at Sheerness between March and April for a voyage to the Arctic, with Lutwidge retaining command. The expedition, under the overall command of Constantine Phipps, who commanded , sailed from the Nore on 10 June 1773.