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In late March 1915,
The Evening Star, a daily newspaper in Washington D.C., published Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "Danger!! Being the Log of Capt. John Sirius" in installments over three days. At that time, Europe was immersed in war, and the U.S. has not yet joined in the fighting. Every day, the front page of
The Evening Star was filled with news of battles on land and at sea, mass casualties, and starvation. (
Here is a daily snapshot of the headlines, each with link to the edition at the Library of Congress.)
Wikipedia provides background and a synopsis of "Danger!!":
First published in the Strand Magazine in July 1914, ["Danger!!] was based on an imaginary country in Europe fighting - and defeating - Britain and intended to direct public attention to the great danger (submarines) which threatened the country. The story describes how Britain is in need of getting up to date in its naval preparations. A small country in Europe (Norland) has been fighting England, and is now invaded by an English army. However the small country has a naval flotilla of submarines under Captain John Sirius. Sirius uses his submarines to lay a naval blockade around the British Isles, so that no supplies can be landed. The result is that the British start suffering famine. However some of the submarines are sunk. The British are congratulating themselves, when Sirius, waiting outside of Liverpool, purposely torpedoes a large White Star liner. The British end up surrendering.
To my eye, "Danger!!" was propaganda aimed at convincing the U.S. to join the war effort. Was this the intent? See what you think.
Today's posting is Part 1, which was published on Saturday, March 27, 1915. Part 2 will be posted tomorrow, and Part 3 on Monday. You can follow day-by-day as readers of The Evening Star did in 1915. Or, the entire story is available in text and e-pub format at Project Gutenberg, and an audio recording of the story is available at Librivox. (The recording is also in three installments, with total listening time about 72 minutes.)
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The first paragraph as published in The Evening Star:
~ Continue reading the pdf of The Evening Star.
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Text of the first paragraph, from Project Gutenberg, which has the entire document:
It is an amazing thing that the English, who have the reputation of being a practical nation, never saw the danger to which they were exposed. For many years they had been spending nearly a hundred millions a year upon their army and their fleet. Squadrons of Dreadnoughts costing two millions each had been launched. They had spent enormous sums upon cruisers, and both their torpedo and their submarine squadrons were exceptionally strong. They were also by no means weak in their aerial power, especially in the matter of seaplanes. Besides all this, their army was very efficient, in spite of its limited numbers, and it was the most expensive in Europe. Yet when the day of trial came, all this imposing force was of no use whatever, and might as well have not existed. Their ruin could not have been more complete or more rapid if they had not possessed an ironclad or a regiment. And all this was accomplished by me, Captain John Sirius, belonging to the navy of one of the smallest Powers in Europe, and having under my command a flotilla of eight vessels, the collective cost of which was eighteen hundred thousand pounds. No one has a better right to tell the story than I.
~ Continue reading the text/e-pub at Project Gutenberg.
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All images are from the Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Cross posted at Joy of Fishes.
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What say you, was "Danger!!" propaganda?
What else is on your mind today?