The Caroline Skeel Archives Reading Room
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.