Polaris (Military) Tartan
- Name of Tartan:
- Polaris (Military)
- ITI Number:
- 222
- Category:
- Military
- Designer / Source:
- MacIntyre of Strone, Alexander
- Date:
- 1964
- Slog:
- BKB:BKB
- Colour Sequence:
- BKBKBKGOKBKOGKBKB
- Thread Count:
- NB24 K4 NB4 K4 NB4 K28 G24 GO4 K4 RB4 K4 GO4 G24 K28 NB28 K4 NB4
- Notes:
-
Called ‘Polaris’ for very many years, its correct name is ‘Polaris Military’. Designed in 1964 by Alexander MacIntyre of Strone, Strone House, Argyll for the officers and men of the American Submarine base at the Holy Loch – making the Polaris submarine the first ship in history to have its own tartan. The idea came from Captain Walter F Schlech of the USS Proteus AS19 who was Commander of the submarine squadron. The Lord Lyon of the time apparently exploded when the tartan was submitted to him and is quoted as saying "We don’t record tartans for submarines. It is nonsense. I have never heard of a ship’s tartan in the whole history of Scotland!".
There has been confusion about the colours between the two gold lines but this version appears to be the correct one and is based on a first generation copy by Jamie Scarlett of D C Stewart’s original Sindex cards (stored in the Inverness Archives). The Polaris as originally woven by Lochcarron and supplied to MacIntyre of Strone for sale on the Polaris base was yellow – green – ancient blue – green – yellow. Where that sequence came from isn’t known. To complicate matters, Kenny Dalgliesh says that he
wove the original piece for the submarine commander.and has since woven over 200 yards and used Gold – Dark Blue – Sky Blue – Dark Blue – Gold.
The next weave was undertaken by Scott Brothers of Hawick in July 1978 who seem to have reverted to what is now regarded as the correct sequence YKBKY.
The navy blue represents the naval uniform, the dark green the depths of the oceans and the Royal Blue and gold overchecks represent the ‘Blue’ and ‘Gold’ crews who alternate.
Sample in STA Johnstone Collection. January 2009 – tartan has been discontinued (Bells of Dunoon).
