The Life-Line is Firm Thanks to the Merchant Navy
A painted portrait shows a seaman in a woollen cap and an officer in a peaked cap, both holding binoculars and looking out over a rough sea. The text 'The life-line is firm thanks to the Merchant Navy' uses a reassuring virtue phrase in place of any supply figures.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- H.M. Stationery Office (printed for); printed by St. Michael's Press Ltd., London; artist Charles Wood
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Reassure
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- 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 (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
H.M. Stationery Office, printed by St Michael's Press; artist Charles Wood, 1939-1945. US National Archives (NARA) WWII Foreign Posters, 44-PF series.
Text on the object
The life-line is firm thanks to the MERCHANT NAVY CHARLES WOOD PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY ST MICHAEL'S PRESS LTD. LONDON. 51/1131. PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
