Higgledy-Piggledy, nursery rhyme reworked for propaganda purposes, 1914-1918.

Rhyme accompanying the caricature:

'Higgledy-piggledy, my black hun!
She lays mines where the trade ships run;
Friends and foes she treats as one -
Higgledy-piggledy, my black hun!'

In February 1915 Germany declared the waters surrounding British Isles to be a war zone in which ships could be sunk without warning, and began the first U-Boat campaign with unrestricted attacks against merchant and passenger ships. The British Navy retaliated in March by imposing a total sea blockade on Germany, prohibiting all shipping imports including food.

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.