QUEEN MARY Salutes QUEEN VICTORIA
Cunard Line’s QUEEN VICTORIA, departed the Port of Los Angeles last night on her on her Panama Canal voyage to Ft. Lauderdale, but not without stopping by to visit former Cunarder and icon QUEEN MARY.
A large crowd gathered on the decks of QUEEN MARY in Long Beach, CA as QUEEN VICTORIA approached from the sister port of Los Angeles. The QUEEN VICTORIA drew close to the 1936 liner and was treated to a fireworks display while both ships traded whistle blasts.
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Awesome!!!
Peter,
I’ve been wondering for quite some time if there has ever been any talk amongst Long Beach officials about the eventual need to dry dock Queen Mary ?
Cheers,
Corey
Great question, Corey. I’m not privy to any such discussion but it does need to be addressed.
You are lucky to see such events,very lucky, Yes!
Further to Corey’s question about a dry dock for the Queen Mary, it can not happen. Long Beach once had one of the few 1,000 + foot dry docks on the U.S. West Coast. They unwisely, filled it in with dirt and paved it over when the Long Beach Naval Shipyard was closed and decommissioned. The Queen Mary would most likely not survive a tow of any distance, let alone through open ocean which would be required to reach a dry dock that could hold her. There are numerous reasons for this, but the short answer is much of her structural integrity has been compromised. The original plans when the ship came to Long Beach was to dry dock her every 20 years. She has been at her current dock for over 40 years. All maintenance work is done in place, and despite her advanced age, her hull remains in relatively good shape. Also to Patrick; I think sometimes those of us that live in Southern California take for granted events like this and especially that we have the Queen Mary, the only major prewar liner in existence, right here in our community. You are absolutely right, we are very lucky. The Queen Mary is 75 years old this year. Whether local, or from around the world, please come and see her.
Does anyone know when she is going to get repainted . Her once black hull is a light grey and her white superstructure is rusty with holes.I saw that they have been restoring the lifeboats. It kills me that carnival doesn’t help fix her. When Disney had her for short time they kept her looking good.I understand she is expensive but long beach needs to cough up money. She the only tourist attraction they got.she is the only reason I go there. The city should treat her like a queen. Everytime I go there I worry about her future. The state of California should have prisoners paint her and do woodwork.
I think having state prisoners paint the QM is a splendid idea.
I my college years (twenty years ago) I did a feasibility study on moving the Queen Mary to San Diego (a healthier tourist market than Long Beach). There are two main reasons she cannot be moved easily.
1. A full environmental impact report would need to be performed, and approvals given, before it is possible to remove the breakwater that surrounds her hull. Over four decades this has become its own unique ecosystem, and the effects of mixing this with the tender marine environments in the region would need careful study. The State of California requires it.
2. Although the ship is far more structurally sound than many believe, there is no longer any compartmentalization in her hull. There were several holes in cut through her hull for doorways, which are not watertight. Both of these factors would make the ship impossible to keep afloat if she were holed or experienced significant flooding. No insurance company would contemplate covering her for a sea voyage in her present state.
It’s certainly sad to witness the deterioration of the Queen Mary, but I would have to guess it would take over $100 million to accomplish everything needed to preserve the ship fully. That’s a lot of money that could go to cancer research, feeding the hungry, restoring deforested jungles, you name it. Tough times we’re living in! I have a lot of respect and admiration for those doing what they can for her preservation today.
Long Beach should never have followed the business model that called for the removal of the QM’s powertrain.
That moat that the QM is moored in should be fresh water! Then she would not rust!
Perhaps one of our MaritimeMatters experts on the RMS Queen Mary could assist me with an inquiry that I have. I have in my collection a piece of lignum vitae that was removed from the QM during her post-HMS Curacao refit in Boston, Massachusetts. The block of wood, which approximately measures .75 inch thick by 1 inch wide by 3 inches long, is embossed with a caption that indicates that the wood was removed from the RMS Queen Mary in October 1942. My question is: where in the ship would such a hard wood as lignum vitae have been used?
Propellor shaft boss.
Thank you, Dave. I appreciate it.
What a great event!! I just hope, as noted above, that the Queen Mary gets the nessessary repairs and clean-up she requires. She is a world heritage treasure, and an international landmark. Her legacy goes beyond shipping. She did, after all, help end a world war and has been a floating masterpiece of art and engineering, and an English/American hero!
@David L NYC I inquired with the Southern California chapter SSHSA President Bruce Vancil who passed along the inquiry to QUEEN MARY’s historian Will Kayne who agrees with Dave – Propeller shaft. Interesting qualities: “Lignum vitae is a trade wood, also called guayacan or guaiacum, and in parts of Europe known as pockenholz, from trees of the genus Guaiacum. This wood was once very important for applications requiring a material with its extraordinary combination of strength, toughness and density. Lignum vitae is hard and durable, and is also the densest wood traded; it will easily sink in water.
Thanks, Martin, for the legwork and the information. You’re right – while the block of lignum vitae that I have isn’t all that large, it has a density and mass that seems just shy of lead! It also has a small crack, so I won’t be placing it in water any time soon; but there’s no doubt that it would go straight to the bottom if I did. It’s dark brown in color, polished, with clearly visible “rings” and has been stamped – not ink-stamped but stamped or inscribed with some sort of tool that actually penetrated into the wood. It forms a very special part of my QM collection, right alongside my 1936 Chad Valley “take-to-pieces” model. I’d also like to thank Bruce Vancil and Will Kayne for their assistance. Thanks again, Martin.
Hi Dave,
The lignum vitae was used as the bearing material in stern tubes. The hard material has very good bearing properties in sea water, negating the need for oil lubrication. It also had the advantage of removing the need for complex oil seals at the outboard end of the stern tube. The lignum vitae was manufactured in long staves which were installed into longitudinal grooves in the stern tube. It sounds like you have a section of one of the staves.
Oil lubrication is now universal for stern tubes on ships with seal technology now providing the longevity and reliability required to keep ships in service for years in between pulling the shafts.
Simon
Hi Simon,
Thanks for the additional information. I had been wondering if the piece I have was cut from a square section of lignum vitae, or if it was cut from a length of the material – and your insight that it was part of a long stave makes perfect sense based on its shape.
I would like to send a digital photograph or two of the object to MaritimeMatters, and will ask Martin or Peter how to best accomplish this. I’ve never seen anything like it before, and perhaps other MaritimeMatters readers would also find it of interest. One other note: even in 1942, the RMS Queen Mary was “significant” or “important” enough to warrant having obsolete pieces of it turned into souvenirs or collector’s items.
Thanks again, Simon.
David L. NYC