The Leviathan

In September 1861, on the cusp of a winter storm in the North Atlantic, three men altered the fate of the world by pulling off one of the greatest acts of American espionage.

In England, cradle of the Industrial Revolution, the world's largest machine was created-a giant iron steamship 60 years ahead of its time. The Scientific American warned that this colossus "could run down the whole of the largest steamers in any other fleet, one after another, without firing a single shot."

The mission ...