IT’S amazing what you can snap up on the Internet auction site eBay.

Books, films, stuffed toys, old postcards, ephemera and bric-a-brac, a fully-working WW2-era British submarine’s attack periscope.

When the distinctive artefact from legendary wartime boat HMS Tally-Ho appeared for sale on the web, the guardians of the Silent Service’s heritage decided it must be preserved.

The periscope led a rather unusual life in its post-Tally-Ho ‘career’. It ended up in the canteen of a Lancaster factor, Luneside Engineering, where workers could raise it during their lunch breaks to admire the countryside.

With the factory site undergoing redevelopment, the periscope was removed and put up on eBay… where it was promptly bought by the RN Submarine Museum… which in turn presented it to the Submarine School at HMS Raleigh.

So, what do you do with a 28ft three-quarter-ton periscope without a submarine? Why, you install it on a balcony overlooking Plymouth Sound to give next-generation deeps an insight into how their forefathers went into battle.

That’s the theory; first, however, funding is needed to pay for such a project.

And there’s no doubt in the minds of the instructors at Raleigh that Tally-Ho’s periscope should be a feature at the Submarine School.

“It’s important that we don’t lose this opportunity to display such an historic piece of equipment,” explained WO(Coxn) Jim Slater. “Tally-Ho’s exploits were renowned and as a piece of engineering, the periscope is fabulous.”

Indeed it is – and it is still in working order – including the range estimator, a manual computer which calculated the distance to a target. Such technology is not yesteryear, as it still can be found in the periscopes of today’s S boats, for example.

“When you look at it, then it’s the same technology – with a few minor tweaks – as we use in today’s submarines,” said WO2 Dave Boniface.

“It’s important that lads know where the Submarine Service has come from. It’s about instilling the submarine ethos.”

In keeping with her hunting name, Tally-Ho had an illustrious career in the Far East where she was the scourge of the Japanese merchant and fighting fleets, dispatching steamers, a light cruiser and a German U-boat among others.

Despite being rammed by enemy submarine chasers and badly damaged, Tally-Ho lost just one crewman on all her patrols. Post-war she appeared in the film Morning Departure before ending her days as a ‘floating classroom’ at HMS Dolphin.

Anyone with memories of service in HMS Tally-Ho and her periscope should write to WO Slater at the Submarine School, HMS Raleigh, Torpoint, Cornwall, PL11 2PD.