---
title: The Merchant Service Is Silent Too! Don't Talk About Cargoes or Ship Sailings
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-merchant-service-is-silent-too-morant-1942/
description: A low-angle photograph shows a merchant seaman in a hooded duffel coat gazing past a mast, with yellow text saying the Merchant Service 'is Silent too'
section: Collection
---

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3. The Merchant Service Is Silent Too! Don't Talk About Cargoes or Ship

[![The Merchant Service Is Silent Too! Don't Talk About Cargoes or Ship Sailings, 1942 Canada poster: A low-angle photograph](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-merchant-service-is-silent-too-morant-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-merchant-service-is-silent-too-morant-1942.jpg)

# The Merchant Service Is Silent Too! Don't Talk About Cargoes or Ship Sailings

A low-angle photograph shows a merchant seaman in a hooded duffel coat gazing past a mast, with yellow text saying the Merchant Service 'is Silent too' and telling civilians not to talk about cargoes or sailings. The seaman's stoic image is used as a model of discretion (transfer), asking civilians to match it.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
THE MERCHANT SERVICE
IS Silent TOO !
DON'T TALK ABOUT CARGOES OR SHIP SAILINGS

Photo by Nicholas Morant, N.F.B.
ISSUED BY WARTIME INFORMATION BOARD, OTTAWA. Printed in Canada. WIB-3E
```

[← Men of Valor - They Fight for You (Corvette Oakville boarding party)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-men-of-valor-oakville-boarding-rogers-1942/) [Ne portez pas les paquets de l'ennemi \[Do not carry the enemy's parcels\] →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-ne-portez-pas-les-paquets-de-lennemi-1942/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)