Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Give Us the Ships - We'll Finish the Subs!, 1941 Canada poster: Seen from a warship's deck, a depth-charge column of water

Give Us the Ships - We'll Finish the Subs!

Seen from a warship's deck, a depth-charge column of water rises among a convoy while a crew member watches under the White Ensign. The sailors speak in the first person to shipbuilders, and the warship, ensign and explosion lend naval combat's urgency to a request for more output.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Transfer
Date
1941
Period
Second World War
Made by
Wartime Information Board, Ottawa; artist Alex Colville
Region
North America
Country
Canada
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
State
Regime
Mackenzie King Government
Leader
William Lyon Mackenzie King
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes
War and the military, Labor
Event
World War II
Source
Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights
Public domain (Canadian Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired; no URAA restoration)
Wartime Information Board, Ottawa; artist Alex Colville, signed 1941. U.S. National Archives, RG 44.

Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

GIVE US THE SHIPS

ALEX COLVILLE '41

WE'LL finish THE SUBS!

ISSUED BY WARTIME INFORMATION BOARD, OTTAWA. Printed in Canada. ID-2E.

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