---
title: Sealed Lips Will Save Our Ships
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-sealed-lips-will-save-our-ships-1940/
description: A drawn sailor in a Royal Canadian Navy cap holds a finger to his lips under the words 'Sealed lips will save our ships'.
section: Collection
---

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3. Sealed Lips Will Save Our Ships

[![Sealed Lips Will Save Our Ships, 1940 Canada poster: A drawn sailor in a Royal Canadian Navy cap holds a finger to his lips](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-sealed-lips-will-save-our-ships-1940.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-sealed-lips-will-save-our-ships-1940.jpg)

# Sealed Lips Will Save Our Ships

A drawn sailor in a Royal Canadian Navy cap holds a finger to his lips under the words 'Sealed lips will save our ships'. The 'our' joins the viewer to the navy's fate, and the uniformed figure makes silence an act of service, a fusion of the viewer's identity with the fleet.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/)

## Text on the object

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

```
R.C.N.

SEALED LIPS
WILL SAVE
OUR SHIPS

ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INFORMATION, UNDER AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER OF NATIONAL WAR SERVICES, OTTAWA.
Printed in Canada
AGE. 6
[stamp:] GIFT OF CENTRAL OUTDOOR ADVERTISING CO.
[pencil:] Canada
```

[← Save Waste Paper - it is used for AMMUNITION and other vital needs](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-save-waste-paper-ammunition-1940/) [The Torch; Be Yours to Hold It High! (McCrae) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-the-torch-be-yours-to-hold-it-high-filipowski-1940/)

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- [Our job is to beat the Hun. Vote Union Government (Canada, 1917 election)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/our-job-is-to-beat-the-hun-union-government-1917/) (Canada · 1917 · Name-calling, Identity fusion). Content note: Ethnic slur ('Hun') for Germans in the slogan.
- [Julistus (Proclamation): Red Guard committee denies rumours and orders rumour-spreaders arrested](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/punakaarti-julistus-huhut-1918/) (Finland · 1918 · Identity fusion)
- [Salzburg 20-Kronen "Anschluss" voucher (1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/salzburg-anschluss-voucher-20-kronen-1921/) (Austria · 1921 · Identity fusion)
- [The Bombay Chronicle, article on a foreign-cloth bonfire (July 30, 1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bombay-chronicle-cloth-bonfire-1921/) (British India · Jul 30, 1921 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- [L'Unione Sarda, 24 March 1929: 'Il voto di oggi, è atto di fede' (plebiscite day front page)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/unione-sarda-plebiscito-front-page-1929/) (Fascist Italy · Mar 24, 1929 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- [Zwei SA-Männer bringen ein Hitler-Plakat an (Mecklenburg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sa-maenner-kleben-hitler-plakat-mecklenburg-1932/) (Weimar Republic · Jun 21, 1932 · Identity fusion). Content note: Photograph of SA men in uniform with swastika armband putting up a Hitler election poster, 1932.
- [Hitlerjugend, Deutsches Jungvolk: Altmetallsammlung](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hj-altmetallsammlung-jungvolk-1933/) (Nazi Germany · 1933 · Identity fusion). Content note: Deutsches Jungvolk boys in uniform collecting scrap metal, 1933.
- [Marine-HJ werben für den Bau von HJ-Heimen (Handwagen mit Plakat)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/marine-hj-werbung-hj-heime-1933/) (Nazi Germany · 1933 · Identity fusion). Content note: Hitler Youth members in uniform with swastika armbands and flags promoting the building of Hitler Youth homes.