Ρ/Κ Paladin

[Nicholas Peppas]

Paladin was a Southampton tugboat with a very special past! She was built at Murdoch & Murray of Glasgow for the Anchor Line of Glasgow in 1939. She has 326 tons, a length of 42.8 meters and a beam of 9.2 meters. She made 13.5 mph. In 1939 she was sold to the Clyde Shipping Company Ltd. In 1946 she was bought by Red Funnel of Southampton. She was broken up at Rotterdam in 1960.

A black and white photo can be seen here http://www.plimsoll.org/Resources/SCCLibraries/4174.asp Simplon has another black and white photo here http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/RedFunnel...l#anchor647628

But what has kept the ship's fame in posterity is the classic 1959 Peter Sellers movie "The mouse that roared" (Greek translation, ελληνικη μεταφραση, Το ποντικι που βρυχαται) where Paladin is the famed boat with which the small army of the Grand Duchy of Fenwick (20 men to be exact) makes a transatlantic trip, invades New York City and wins the war by capturing nuclear physicist Dr. Kokintz, his daughter, a few NYC policemen, and of course the bomb (!) that looks more like an American football... The hilarious movie is a 1959 vintage (with all its exciting comments about cold war and the competition of Big Powers).

Paladin and Queen Elizabeth are stars of the movie as are some exceptional (mostly) British actors. Peter Sellers (1925-1980) plays three roles, the Duchess Gloriana XII, Count Rupert Mountjoy, the Prime Minister, and Tully Bascomb, the constable and military leader of Grand Fenwick. The American actress Jean Seberg (1938-1979) is Helen Kokintz, the scientist's daughter and Tully's love interest. Her statement "It's the honest thing to do. It's the wise thing to do. It's the American thing to do" is a classic! David Kossoff (1919-2005) is the scientist, somewhat of a caricature of Albert Einstein, while the Australian actor Leo McKern (1920-2002) is the opposition leader in the government of the Grand Duchy of Fenwick. So many other great actors play secondary roles, among them an idol of the 1960s generation, William Hartnell (1908-1975), who was the (first) Doctor in the famed long running series Doctor Who (see photo here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fi...tor_colour.jpg); here he plays Will Buckley, the Sargent-at-Arms who saves Tully from all problems. Also Stuart Saunders (1915-1988) who plays the captain of Queen Elizabeth and Harold Kasket (1926-2002) who plays the captain of Paladin.

Here are now some choice stills....

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