Queen Mary Cruises
Queen Mary began life in less than fortunate circumstances, rising to prominance as a legendary name synonymous with the grand era of cruising.
Although launched into troubled waters in 1934, Queen Mary is today acclaimed as the most legendary "monarch" of the Atlantic.
New York harbour has witnessed many news-breaking maritime occasions. Yet on April 25, 2004, the inaugural rendezvous of Cunard Line's classic QE2 and new QM2 was an especially significant event.
Not only was it the first time since 1963 that two "Queens" had docked at New York simultaneously, it was also the first active-service reunion of the ships' names since 1967, when the original Queen Mary had steamed away into retirement in California.
The new QM2, an extraordinary vessel of size and luxury unimaginable when QE2 was completed in 1968, (let alone when her namesake was conceived in 1930), is yet to voyage away from the northern Atlantic region. However, it is predictable - in fact, inevitable - that this massive ship will, at a future time, circumnavigate Cape Horn to enter the Pacific and cruise north to Los Angeles to score priceless publicity as she is united with the great ship whose name and fame she has carried into the 21st century.
Few ships built during the past 75 years - apart from a certain White Star liner which did not complete its 1912 maiden-voyage - have prompted as many words and metres of film to record their career as the vessel with which Great Britain's Cunard Line set forth to dominate the trans-Atlantic "ferry" in 1930.
Although Queen Mary was eventually surpassed in size by her later-built consort Queen Elizabeth, in speed (by America's United States of 1952), and in length (by France, 1961), she remains an enduring and indelible symbol of the triumph of engineering and design.
In retrospect, the fanfare that attended the advent of Queen Mary was not so much due to her physical dimensions, her unprecedented luxuries, nor her predicted blue riband challenging speed. It was, ironically, due to her triumph over adversity, and the fact that she was built, let alone completed, at all.
The story of Queen Mary begins in 1928 when the directorship of Cunard Line first contemplated the building of a new ship - possibly two - to meet the imminent challenge of German, Italian and French rival operators. Their brief to John Brown Ltd., (famed Clydeside ship builders long favoured by Cunard), was a ship of greater size, speed and economy than their ageing Mauretania, Aquitania and Berengaria.
North German Lloyd's Bremen and Europa twins, in particular, had impressed with their touted speed, size and luxury. Italy's Rex and Conte di Savoia would soon enter service, and perennial rival France was planning a new giant ship, a "super-sized" Ile-de-France.
Despite the worsening global economic situation, and subsequent Wall Street crash of October 1929, Cunard was determined to proceed, and not allow the British Merchant Marine ensign to be outclassed on the world's most prestigious route.
The design ultimately chosen would astonish the world. The ship would be over 81,000 tons displacement, over 1000 feet in length, and steam-powered to attain over 30 knots. Even more astonishing, a second ship would be later built to ensure Cunard's supremacy on the USA and European trade route.
The first keel plates were laid at Brown's yards, on slipway number 534, on December 1, 1930. Some 3,600 engineers and workers laboured apace, the skeleton of the great liner rising high above the Clyde. Then, just over one year later, on December 11, 1931, all work came to a standstill. Cash flow had ceased. No new resources were available. The effects of the World Depression, staved off by Cunard and John Brown for as long as feasible, had struck hard and over 3,200 shipyard workers were terminated - just in time for Christmas.
The lay-off, and cessation of work at yard 534, was a devastating blow to not only Glasgow, but all of Britain and its far-flung Empire. The ship that had become a symbol of national prestige and optimism was, for over two years, an abandoned, rusting steel hulk that dominated the skyline of Clydeside's grimy streets and its depressed workforce.
The British Government was pressed to advance necessary monies to complete "number 534"; Scottish members of parliament, in particular, lobbied for funds so their constituents could again work and the communities survive. Even HRH Edward Prince of Wales, visited the site, but it still appeared the future of the ship was grim, and most likely the incomplete hull would be dismantled for scrap.
Meanwhile, the rival European companies, supported by Government subsidies, placed their new ships in service. Worst of all, arch-rival French Line's similarly vast 80,000 ton, Normandie, was tipped to stun the world on completion in 1935. Britain's reputation as a shipbuilding and ship-owning nation was at stake as never before. Something had to be done. Then, out of the blue, or so it seemed to the Scottish shipyard workers, something indeed happened.
In March 1934, a Government grant of 9.5 million pounds, a vast sum of money at the time, was presented to Cunard to complete "number 534". Led by bagpipers, jubilant ship-workers marched through the Clydeside to re-employment on April 3, 1934, and set to work to complete the leviathan which had become a sort of talisman for the city. Three years of neglect, rust and all manner of detritus was to be addressed before construction could resume, but the ship was ready for launching just six months later.
The christening ceremony, on a chilly September 26, 1934, was a world-recorded event, attended by many thousands, not only local Scots, but people from far and wide. Particularly represented was France whose national flagship's entry to service was imminent, and would contest "number 534" for trans-Atlantic supremacy.
Befitting the auspicious event, Queen Mary, consort of HM King George V, was the officiating 'Patroness' of the yet un-named Cunard vessel. It was with great expectation and debate that those assembled at yard 534 waited to learn the name to be accorded their ship. Here lies a story of its own; one which has passed into a confusion of lores, myths and legends over the following seven decades. It is, however, worth recording, just in case it may be accurate.Word has it that "number 534" was intended to be christened Victoria, named not only for Britain's then longest reigning monarch, but also in deference to Cunard's policy for ship names with the suffix 'ia' (e.g. Caronia, Lusitania). The story goes that the Chairman of Cunard approached HM King George V to request permission for the ship to be named "after the greatest Queen of England", only to receive the reply that his consort, Queen Mary, would be greatly honoured, thus bestowing his approval accordingly. Whether actual fact or lore, the vessel was so named and the choice resoundingly cheered by the rain-soaked shipyard workers, as well as around the world by those listening on another innovation, the BBC "wireless".
So, in this way, the dynasty of Cunard's "Queens" had commenced, and continues to this day.
The even larger Queen Elizabeth was launched in 1938 into even more troubled political waters, and completed only after World War Two had commenced. Perhaps due to the dramatic events which had caused Queen Mary to become such an icon at the time, the newer Cunard ship only really entered Atlantic passenger trading a decade after her building, and was always somewhat overshadowed as Queen Mary's "sister".
Queen Mary had voyaged six long years through war-torn waters as a troop-transport before returning to the Clyde for refurbishing, and resuming peacetime service. In the intervening years, she had carried hundreds of thousands of Allied personnel and civilians, at times taking over 15,000 passengers at a time. Like her sister, "the Mary", as she became affectionately known in military circles, voyaged solo due to her high speed capability, otherwise being vulnerable in conventional, slower, convoys.
During her resumed latter career on the trans-Atlantic route, the name Queen Mary was to become synonymous with an image of gracious ocean luxury. A loyal - albeit gradually dwindling - clientele continued to travel aboard her even when less costly, faster, and increasingly airborne alternatives were offered.
The time came, inevitably, in October 1967 for Queen Mary to make her final voyage, this time headed for the sunshine of Southern California, where retirement awaited her as a floating tourist attraction/museum/hotel. It was an emotional Great Britain that bid her "Bon Voyage", and among the thousands of well-wishers thronging Southampton's docks were many former Clydeside shipyard workers, now retired, who had journeyed south from Glasgow to farewell the ship, which had been such a beacon of optimism through the grim years of the Great Depression.
Today, 36 years later, Queen Mary remains essentially as-built, and is maintained to a high standard. It is proposed that a cruise terminal facility be constructed adjacent to her permanent mooring, where she would be visited regularly by local and international cruise ships of another era.
Written by Scott Baty, Issue 19 Autumn 2005