QUEEN MARY At 75
The QUEEN MARY will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of her maiden voyage next month and the Steamship Historical Society of America’s Southern California Chapter (which operates an office on board the liner) is supporting the two-day long party along with the ship’s operators on Friday, May 27 and Saturday, May 28 with a series of historical lectures.
The weekend includes special activities on board. For the complete schedule and hotel packages, please visit to http://www.queenmary.com/Anniversary
Friday and Saturday will have two lectures per day (at 1:00pm and 3:00pm each day).
The SSHSA of SoCal will be presenting a several talks, including: Chris Butler’s “Pride, Power, and Prestige: Queen Mary and the Race for the Blue Riband”; “NORMANDIE… Le Paquebot Jazz Hot — A Brief Architectural Visit Aboard the Major Competition on the High Seas” by William Keene; “Trans-Atlantic Fashion in the Maiden Voyage Era” by Colleen and Shawn Crosby; and “Art Deco and the Ocean Liners” by Chapter Chairman Bruce Vancil.
The Steamship Historical Society of America’s Southern California Chapter is a very active chapter with quarterly meetings on board QUEEN MARY, a magazine. In December 2011, it will host a group cruise from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera ports of Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas on board SAPPHIRE PRINCESS.
Steamship Historical Society of Southern California Chapter
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I love this ship. I’m so glad it is preserved in California and I’m within reach of it (although being in Oklahoma makes it kind of challenging to reach). I’m visiting the ship this summer.
The queen Mary has so much history and probaly 99.9 percent of the people who live near her have no idea how amazing she is and don’t even know what a ocean liner is. Reminds of of documentry on s.s. United states lady in waiting. They ask a local dock worker who works right next to her what that big two funnel thing is and he goes I think it’s a tugboat!
The ship belongs in Southampton thats spelt with one H ,its been pillaged over the last 40 years with no consideration giving to its maritime career , namely the removal of its engines with have actually resulted in the ship having broken its back..
Its ironic that the most popular attraction on the ship today is the tour of its one remaining engine room .
P . Moody Southampton
Actually, while it wasn’t preserved at the start, hey are doing much more to preserve it. They’ve repainted the funnels, opened a maritime museum, and preserved many beautiful interiors. Yes, there have still been some times of destruction, but I’d rather have a ship than no ship.
Peter, I know I’m not the most knowlegeable guy in the world, but has the ship broken it’s back? I don’t quite think it has, or else it would not still be here.
No, the ship has not broken her back but she has been compromised by the removal of many of her support beams, so she could never survive a tow without being reinforced.
Not to mention, reinstalling all of the ship’s heavy machinery and equipment. That would allow for the installation of the support beams. This would restore the ship’s center of gravity and allow her to be towed anywhere to a dry dock station for hull repairs.
The fitting out basin at John Brown’s on the Clyde is still available, she would make a fine sight next to the restored “Titan” crane which was used to fit her boilers and engines. It would be a tight fit getting her up the river but in her “light ship” condition just do-able on a high water spring.
Mind you she would have to survive the tow across the pond!
This is a REAL ocean liner; powerful, graceful and majestic. Nothing being built today can compare.
That makes more sense. I pray the queen Mary is blessed with another 75 years. Such a wonderful miracle has survived. Somewhat converted to an attraction for people in Bermuda Shorts but at least Disney sold it and didn’t turn it into Disneyland.
The ship still retains the original aft engine room plus the steering gear room. The forward engine room, the boiler rooms and the generating rooms had their machinery and most of the transverse bulkheads removed. The removal of this machinery resulted in the ships draft decreasing significantly which is why she sits so high in the water, but her back is definitely not broken. Interestingly, there remains one Centrex ballast pump in place which still operates, which allows the ship to be trimmed when they want to paint the boot topping. I just wish they would give the hull and superstructure a repaint, its long overdue!
Yeah. It was sad
Peter, I’m just curious, Queen Mary is struggling I know, but, if she is getting money from Long Beach to paint the funnels, restore the Verandah Grill, and restore the decking, is she in danger of meeting the dreaded torch, or is she just struggling with the fact that it costs money to find enough paint to paint a small town and upkeep a massive ship? I’m sorry if I sound ignorant, since I live in the landlocked Great Plains, I don’t have as much exposure to the sea.
I love RMS Queen Mary – I think she’s a fantastic ship. I so wish the City of Long Beach would take a greater interest in her well being. There is so much of the ship which is being neglected and she needs managers who will take action to prevent any further damage to her in the first instance and then work on a serious plan to restore her to her original glory. The site below (not mine) gives some good ideas for what could really be done. I hope people will be able to celebrate her 200th anniversary!!
http://www.sterling.rmplc.co.uk/visions/decks.html