'She Sails at Midnight...' He Talked... This Happened

Two photographs are stacked: men talking over beer in a bar while others listen, and below it a ship sinking with a lifeboat adrift. The sequence 'He talked... this happened' asserts a direct cause from a pub remark to deaths at sea, and the slogan names the cost in lives.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Fear appeal

Date

1942

Period

Second World War

Made by

Director of Public Information, Ottawa, under authority of Hon. James G. Gardiner, Minister of National War Services (Canada)

Region

North America

Country

Canada

Medium

Poster

Issuer type

State

Regime

Mackenzie King Government

Leader

William Lyon Mackenzie King

Audience

Domestic public

Purpose

Warn or inform

Themes

Security and surveillance, War and the military

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, expired; published 1940s, more than 50 years ago)
Director of Public Information, Ottawa, c. 1942. U.S. National Archives, RG 44.

"SHE SAILS AT MIDNIGHT...."
HE TALKED..
..THIS HAPPENED
CARELESS TALK COSTS LIVES

ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INFORMATION, OTTAWA.
BY AUTHORITY OF HON. JAMES G. GARDINER, MINISTER OF NATIONAL WAR SERVICES.