FelixAntonius
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2001
- Messages
- 1,180
From: The Daily Telegraph 16.1.02. pg 11.
The story of a reindeer that spent a month on board a Royal Navy submarine at the hight of the Second World War has been proved true by papers found in the loft of a former submariner.
For 60 years, Royal Navy wardrooms have been entertained by the tail of the Russian reindeer on Trident. Few belived it was anything other than an apocryphal tale.
But when the family of Cdr Geoffrey Sladen, the vessel's skipper, gave his papers to the Submarine Museum at Gosport, Hants, they were found to include proof of the reindeer's existence.
Cdr Jeff Tall, the museum's director, said the papers included a photograph of Cdr Sladen, a former England rugby international, with Polyanna the reindeer.
She had been taken on board when Trident docked at Murmansk in the winter of 1941 for repairs, said Cdr Tall. Cdr Sladen was invited to dinner with a Russian admiral.
"He mentioned to the admiral that his wife had trouble pushing her pram with two young babies in it it up the hill in winter.
"As they were due to depart a sack was slung over the hatch and Cdr Sladen thought no more about it until they had sailed when the sack was opened to reveal this baby reindeer, who was immediatly christened Polyanna."
The reindeer spent a month in the cramped boat with 53 sailors on patrol off Norway seeking German warships trying to break out of the Baltic.
She slept in Cdr Sladen's cabin. Whenever the klaxon sounded as the submarine surfaced at night she charged to the hatch and stood guard over the ladder, only allowing Cdr Sladen to pass.
When Trident returned to Britain, Polyanna was too big to get through the hatch, said Cdr Tall. "Fortunatly there was a butcher on board. He trussed her up with roap so that she was small enough to be passed through." She was taken to Regent's Park.
The story of a reindeer that spent a month on board a Royal Navy submarine at the hight of the Second World War has been proved true by papers found in the loft of a former submariner.
For 60 years, Royal Navy wardrooms have been entertained by the tail of the Russian reindeer on Trident. Few belived it was anything other than an apocryphal tale.
But when the family of Cdr Geoffrey Sladen, the vessel's skipper, gave his papers to the Submarine Museum at Gosport, Hants, they were found to include proof of the reindeer's existence.
Cdr Jeff Tall, the museum's director, said the papers included a photograph of Cdr Sladen, a former England rugby international, with Polyanna the reindeer.
She had been taken on board when Trident docked at Murmansk in the winter of 1941 for repairs, said Cdr Tall. Cdr Sladen was invited to dinner with a Russian admiral.
"He mentioned to the admiral that his wife had trouble pushing her pram with two young babies in it it up the hill in winter.
"As they were due to depart a sack was slung over the hatch and Cdr Sladen thought no more about it until they had sailed when the sack was opened to reveal this baby reindeer, who was immediatly christened Polyanna."
The reindeer spent a month in the cramped boat with 53 sailors on patrol off Norway seeking German warships trying to break out of the Baltic.
She slept in Cdr Sladen's cabin. Whenever the klaxon sounded as the submarine surfaced at night she charged to the hatch and stood guard over the ladder, only allowing Cdr Sladen to pass.
When Trident returned to Britain, Polyanna was too big to get through the hatch, said Cdr Tall. "Fortunatly there was a butcher on board. He trussed her up with roap so that she was small enough to be passed through." She was taken to Regent's Park.
