Arthur Conan Doyle

Danger! And Other Stories Arthur Conan Doyle

The story correctly anticipates the U-boat strategy which Germany would use in both World Wars to target ships bringing the foodstuffs Britain was unable to produce domestically. As would be confirmed by the events, the story forecast the need for the attackers to also target American ships bringing supplies to Britain - even at the price of violating International Law - forcing the British to introduce rationing among their population. At the time numerous popular writings portrayed England facing Germany in an upcoming war. The best remembered include Erskine Childers' The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service (1903) and "Saki"'s When William Came: A Story of London Under the Hohenzollerns (1913). Doyle's story is another example of this genre of invasion literature. Ironically, its conclusion foretold the fate of the Cunard liner Lusitania two years later.