The Sinking of the Lusitania

The Sinking of the Lusitania is an animated work of propaganda created by American animator Windsor McCay. It is also a piece of documentary animation documenting the real life sinking of the Lusitania after it was torpedoed by a German submarine. At 12 minutes in running time it was the longest animation ever created at the time. Not only that but it was also considered the very first animated documentary that is factual and completely serious.

Even though McCay was effectively a newspaper cartoonist, The Sinking of the Lusitania is considered to be his most realistic work as it needed to be as close to what actual footage would look like as possible. The reason not actual footage was used to record the disaster was because they simply did not have the technology back then to actually send ships out with camera equipment in time.