31. Raising a Reindeer in a Submarine
Over the next six weeks, as HMS Trident finished its cruise before returning to port, Pollyanna the reindeer was fed from a barrel of moss provided by the Soviets. When the moss ran out, she subsisted on condensed milk and scraps from the galley. It was hoped that she would sleep in the torpedo room, but her tastes were more frou-frou and refined: she insisted on sleeping under the captain’s bed.
Whenever the submarine surfaced, Pollyanna barged her way through the narrow corridors to be first to get some fresh air, before returning to officer country. Although Pollyanna ate a navigational chart, the Trident made it back to Britain. By then, she had grown too big to exit through a torpedo tube, so a winch was used to get her out via the hatch. Pollyanna was then discharged from the Royal Navy, and spent the rest of her life in the London Zoo.
