In case you've not been following the century-old movements of my great grandfather, the journalist Don Martin, at Soldier of the Pen: 100 years ago today he was six days into the voyage across the Atlantic
that would take him to London and, eventually, to embed with the Americans fighting in France. The ship (the S S St Louis) were approaching Ireland. He penned a Christmas letter to his daughter describing the mysterious appearance and even stranger subsequent disappearance of Santa Claus - along with the mood on a ship whose crew and passengers alike were on the alert for mortal danger.
At least one of the children on board knew the nature of the danger. Martin recounts she asked the man "dressed in a red coat and fur hat, with big boots and a white beard" if “Santa Claus came in a submarine.”
At least one of the children on board knew the nature of the danger. Martin recounts she asked the man "dressed in a red coat and fur hat, with big boots and a white beard" if “Santa Claus came in a submarine.”
