80 Years Ago: Relive the Queen Mary's Maiden Voyage

[Tiki Tom]

I owe a lot to the Queen Mary. Back in the 1980s I worked as a tour guide on her, guiding tourists through the maze of her corridors and rooms. It was a college job and I was young and didn't really know much about the golden era. It was the QM that really introduced me to art deco, to the famous names of the 30s and 40s who traveled on her, and to the music and styles of the period. I worked that job for about 3 years. I'm sure I'd be a completely different person if it weren't for that experience. Thank you, Queen Mary.

The following article is to mark the 80th anniversary of her maiden voyage in 1936. It includes some interesting photos.

http://www.lamag.com/askchris/slide-show-relive-glamorous-maiden-voyage-queen-mary/

 

[MisterCairo]

I sailed on the QM2's maiden voyage in 2004. I've yet to see the first, but am looking forward to it!

 

[GHT]

Can you imagine, your bags are packed, you check out at London's Savoy Hotel, the porter has stowed your luggage into the waiting taxi. You do the rounds of tips, get the salutary gesture, settle into the cab for the short journey to Victoria Railway Station where you join your Pullman Car on the Orient Express for the rail trip to Southampton. London's suburbs slip by as the train gathers speed through the Surrey countryside. You and your lady sip champagne cocktails and enjoy the complimentary canapes that your train steward has just served you. Looking out of the window, you just recognise the station name of Winchester as the Mighty Orient Express thunders through at speed, and think to yourself, not far now.
There is a branch line, just before Southampton Central Station, still in use today, albeit for freight in and out of the busy port, your train has slowed and the driver brings the express slowly to a halt alongside the Mighty Queen Mary. You look up, all the way up that magnificent hull to the decks above. You see the bunting, somewhere a band is playing, porters and stewards are busying themselves handling your luggage, you are ushered into the departure lounge where passport control and other formalities are completed. You are then escorted to the ship, where your adventure has only just begun.
Can you imagine?

 

[Stearmen]

Or, conversely. Your bags are packed, you get on a train in Kansas, travel over a thousand miles, get on a Deuce and A Half, travel to the docks in New York City, grab your own gear, walk up the boarding plank to board the Queen Mary, along with 10,000 other GIs. Then your adventure is just starting! That was my Dad on February 28, 1944.

 

[RJR]

Or, conversely. Your bags are packed, you get on a train in Kansas, travel over a thousand miles, get on a Deuce and A Half, travel to the docks in New York City, grab your own gear, walk up the boarding plank to board the Queen Mary, along with 10,000 other GIs. Then your adventure is just starting! That was my Dad on February 28, 1944.

My dad made that trip over and returned on the queen Elizabeth.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Now they are saying that a "forgotten room" has been discovered on the QM and it is a bit of a time capsule.

http://laist.com/2017/07/10/new_room_queen_mary.php

At the bottom of the article, somebody claims that they saw the room in the 1980s. However, as already noted, I was a tour guide on the Queen Mary in the 1980s. I most assuredly did NOT know about that room. We used to go sneaking around all over below decks after hours. Presumably I would have heard about it if it was generally known.

 

[Fading Fast]

Now they are saying that a "forgotten room" has been discovered on the QM and it is a bit of a time capsule.

http://laist.com/2017/07/10/new_room_queen_mary.php

At the bottom of the article, somebody claims that they saw the room in the 1980s. However, as already noted, I was a tour guide on the Queen Mary in the 1980s. I most assuredly did NOT know about that room. We used to go sneaking around all over below decks after hours. Presumably I would have heard about it if it was generally known.

Cool. What wasn't clear in the article is if, owing to the ship currently being docked, the anchors are just permanent in place (hence, no one ever needed to check this equipment / nothing broke since the '60s) or is this "old" equipment not used with the ship's current anchors?

 

[Zombie_61]

Cool. What wasn't clear in the article is if, owing to the ship currently being docked, the anchors are just permanent in place (hence, no one ever needed to check this equipment / nothing broke since the '60s) or is this "old" equipment not used with the ship's current anchors?

For all intents and purposes the Queen Mary has been "permanently" fixed to it's current mooring, including a low rock wall that has been built around it to create a self-contained lagoon of sorts, so there's no need for them to use her original anchors. The ship is essentially not much more than a floating hotel and tourist attraction these days.

Sadly, a survey conducted earlier this year revealed severe corrosion of her hull. 75% of the repairs were deemed "urgent", and naval architects and marine engineers have warned the ship "...is probably approaching the point of no return." Repairs are being discussed, but the cost of such repairs is estimated to be nearly $300 million. In November 2016 the city of Long Beach approved $23 million to address the most urgently needed repairs, and the ship's current leaseholder is allegedly working to secure additional funding for the project.

 

[Fading Fast]

For all intents and purposes the Queen Mary has been "permanently" fixed to it's current mooring, including a low rock wall that has been built around it to create a self-contained lagoon of sorts, so there's no need for them to use her original anchors. The ship is essentially not much more than a floating hotel and tourist attraction these days.

Sadly, a survey conducted earlier this year revealed severe corrosion of her hull. 75% of the repairs were deemed "urgent", and naval architects and marine engineers have warned the ship "...is probably approaching the point of no return." Repairs are being discussed, but the cost of such repairs is estimated to be nearly $300 million. In November 2016 the city of Long Beach approved $23 million to address the most urgently needed repairs, and the ship's current leaseholder is allegedly working to secure additional funding for the project.

With numbers that high, to keep these things (the QM and other great but superannuated vintage ships, buildings, etc.) going, they have to find a revenue source as a going business or museum or something. That is a lot of money and their only chance at long-term survival is generating revenue today. It's a shame, but it is what it is.

 

[Zombie_61]

With numbers that high, to keep these things (the QM and other great but superannuated vintage ships, buildings, etc.) going, they have to find a revenue source as a going business or museum or something. That is a lot of money and their only chance at long-term survival is generating revenue today. It's a shame, but it is what it is.

It appears the ship has become a "white elephant" ever since it was retired and moored in Long Beach in 1969. As I understand it the city of Long Beach owns the ship, but over the years has leased it to various companies in an attempt to generate the revenue necessary to maintain it and everyone has lost money on the deal. To complicate matters further, the U.S. Coast Guard long ago deemed it a "building" rather than a "ship" because the majority of the components necessary to make it a "seagoing" vessel have been removed (boiler rooms, forward engine room, turbo generator rooms, ship stabilizers, onboard water softening plant, propellers and shafts, etc.) and/or converted to "land based" systems. As such, any and all restorations/renovations must be supervised by both naval and structural/mechanical/construction engineers. Everyone wants to save the Queen Mary, but it seems no one really knows what to do with it.

 

[Tiki Tom]

QM update: Now you can spend the night in a supposedly haunted cabin.
When I was a tourguide on the QM, we used to tell a few ghost stories to the guests. Supposedly an engineer was killed by a watertight door once, so the engine room is supposedly haunted. The swimming pool is another area supposedly visited by the ghost of a woman. I never saw anything unexplainable, myself. No doubt about it: people are interested in the supernatural.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-queen-mary-haunted-room-20180413-story.html

 

[Fading Fast]

...No doubt about it: people are interested in the supernatural. ...

If the number of fictional movies and TV shows and all the documentaries and reality "investigative" shows about the supernatural that are on my cable system are any indication - your comment is spot on.

 

[Tiki Tom]

City of Long Beach says the Queen Mary will cost at least $100 million …whether they opt to restore her or have her taken apart. At this point most prefer the restoration option, but it is unclear where the money will come from.

https://www.ocregister.com/2021/07/...ys-future-including-preservation-or-disposal/

 

[Trenchfriend]

Early superlative steamer. Just wonderful ship. Sad, that she had to retire relatively early and they had no chance to keep her sailing.

 

[Bugguy]

...walk up the boarding plank to board the Queen Mary, along with 10,000 other GIs. Then your adventure is just starting! That was my Dad on February 28, 1944.

I believe my father was on the same round-trip tour, fortunately. Here are several souvenir cards he sent home...