The reference in this cartoon is to an incident which, at the time of
its occurrence, is said to have caused considerable indignation in
Germany. A Zeppelin, having been on a raiding expedition to England, was
hit on the return journey, and dropped into the North Sea. The crew,
clinging to the damaged airship, besought the captain of a British
trawler to take them off, but the captain, seeing that the Zeppelin crew
far outnumbered his own, declined to trust them, and left them to their
fate. Whether the trawler's captain actually "put his thumb unto his
nose and spread his fingers out" is a matter for conjecture, but under
the circumstances it is scarcely likely.
The whole point lies in the German view of the trawler's captain and his
inhuman conduct. He knew, perfectly well, that if he rescued the crew of
the Zeppelin, the probable reward for himself and crew would be a voyage
to the nearest German port and interment in a prison camp for the
remainder of the war--and plenty of reliable evidence is forthcoming as
to the treatment meted out to men in German prison camps. He knew, also,
that these men who besought his aid were returning from one of the
expeditions which have killed more women and children in England than
able-bodied men, that they had been sharing in work which could not be
described as even of indirect military value, but was more of the nature
of sheer murder. And Germany condemned his conduct by every adjective
that implied brutality and barbarity.
The unfortunate thing about the German viewpoint is that it takes into
consideration only such points as favour Germany, a fact of which this
incident affords striking evidence.