Queen Elizabeth

[Waverley]

Attaching a photo of the Queen Elizabeth.

This was taken when the liner was in dry dock at Greenock about 40 years ago. Does anyone have the exact date?

[Rob Lightbody]

This will have been her BIG refit to make her more suitable for cruising, which she was surprisingly successful at.  Its when they added her outdoor swimming pool, and improved the air conditioning etc.

I have a wonderful new QE book by Chris Harvey - "The Ultimate Ship" - I'll have a look at it when I get a chance and I think will be able to give you the date to within a week or two...

[Andy F]

She was certainly there in March '66 I believe

[stowaway2k]

Southampton Ocean Terminal and RMS Queen Elizabeth

http://www.vimeo.com/2510710

[stowaway2k]

Top Liner 1948

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN3jVlNBEWQ

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN3jVlNBEWQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN3jVlNBEWQ</a>

[Rob Lightbody]

Absolutely fantastic.  Thanks for posting, I just watched all 20 minutes of it right through.

Its such a shame that soon the name Queen Elizabeth will be used to refer to a ship so comprehensively different to this epic creation of the 20th century.

[Twynkle]

Hello Stowaway2k

Thank you so much for this film - it has made our week and more!
My husband sailed on The Queen Elizabeth in September 1961 (Southampton to New York) - aged 17 - with a group of other school boys, without any teachers - they were exchange students going to stay in the US for a year - he's never forgotten the high jinks - escaping into first class,  being chased by Officers as he spent the entire voyage in pursuit of girls! - Alas I wasn't even on the scene then!
He says he has a kept his diary
I've had a peep - it's about a very rough crossing!
Cheers
Twynkle

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Wonderful. That was 20 minutes really well spent -- watching!

Seems to me that those are the very same cranes that are still part of the scene in Southampton -- and still working too.

Queen Elizabeth was a splendid act to follow -- and QE2 followed her splendidly.

[stowaway2k]

He says he has a diary, if anyone is interested
Cheers
Twynkle

Absolutely!  That's just the sort of thing I'd enjoy

[Twynkle]

Hi Stowaway2k
He's away at the moment, I will ask him when he gets back - I remember him saying that the diary was boring!
Maybe he didn't want me to see what he'd been up to!

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Rosie has already posted this link in another context, but it is also part of Queen Elizabeth :

http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=31939&t=1&c=129&cg=4&mset=1011

Queen Elizabeth memorabilia left to Dubai... it will be good, of course, to see them in a public space... but whether this is the right public space really depends on the QE2 heritage museum going ahead...

[ancoaster78]

According to David J Hutchings 'RMS Queen Elizabth - From Victory to Valhalla' The ship was in John Browns hands for approx 3 months for this refot, from sometime in December 1965 until March 1966, the book states the ship left the drydock on 9th March it does not say when it entered the drydock. Hope this helps!

[stowaway2k]

Rosie has already posted this link in another context, but it is also part of Queen Elizabeth :

http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=31939&t=1&c=129&cg=4&mset=1011

Queen Elizabeth memorabilia left to Dubai... it will be good, of course, to see them in a public space... but whether this is the right public space really depends on the QE2 heritage museum going ahead...

Thanks for posting this.
Interesting...
It certainly is good for these items to be on public display.  I wonder though if there is a business connection between the Moldts and Nakheel...    as their venue of choice simply does not yet exhist and its future is in some doubt. 
 
Not wanting to cast a shadow, but here I go...  Glasgow, Liverpool, Cydebank, and Southampton all have well-established museums with strong ties to Cunard....
But, it's their china and blanket to do with as they please.   

The article says

 "The Moldts' father, Edward M. Moldt, was one of a group of Philadelphia businessmen who purchased the Queen Elizabeth from Cunard in 1968 before reselling the vessel to a Hong Kong investor in 1970".

But doesn't say that this is nothing to brag about, as the Philadelphia scheme was a total failure,  that Cunard cancelled the sale,   and that  Philly never had posession of her and she was never theirs to "resell".  QE was sold directly by Cunard to C.Y. Tung.

ok, I'm done.   
but, thanks again for posting this!   

[stowaway2k]

According to David J Hutchings 'RMS Queen Elizabth - From Victory to Valhalla' The ship was in John Browns hands for approx 3 months for this refot, from sometime in December 1965 until March 1966, the book states the ship left the drydock on 9th March it does not say when it entered the drydock. Hope this helps!

Saturday, 11 December   

[Ocean Liner Fanatic]

Rosie has already posted this link in another context, but it is also part of Queen Elizabeth :

http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=31939&t=1&c=129&cg=4&mset=1011

Queen Elizabeth memorabilia left to Dubai... it will be good, of course, to see them in a public space... but whether this is the right public space really depends on the QE2 heritage museum going ahead...

I really should not complain but oh what the heck.This memorabilia really should have gone to either the QM2 since she is the flagship of the Cunard Line or to the new Queen Elizabeth which will be entering service next year.And according to what stowaway2k wrote it could be that the Moldts are not really the legal owners of the memorabilia anyway since their father never did have legal ownership of the first Queen Elizabeth.If the QE2 were to or hopefully in the future becomes a floating hotel,museum and conference center in Southampton or elsewhere in the U.K. then I think that it would be o.k. to donate that memorabilia to the QE2.But if the QE2 stays in Dubai what good is it when a lot of people who have interest in Maritime memorabilia from previous Cunard Ships can not get to Dubai. Regards,Jerry

[stowaway2k]

In the Los Angeles, in front of former offices of C.Y. Tung, can be found an anchor and bow letters Q and E from RMS Queen Elizabeth

The other bow Q and E until recently could be found encased in a sidewalk in downtown New York.  They're now MIA, probably removed because of construction.

http://travel.webshots.com/album/570548951AkGfsJ

Inscribed within the "Q" is copied the letter sent on behalf of HM Queen
Elizabeth the Queen Mother to C.Y. Tung, purchaser from Cunard of QE and owner
of Seawise University, expressing her distress upon learning of the disaster
that befell the great ship that bore her name.

Inscribed with upper portion of the "E" is a similar letter from Kurt Waldheim,
Secretary General of the United Nations, and within the lower portion a letter
from California Governor Brown upon the dedication of the QE monument.

Above the letters is inscribed a short history of QE/Seawise, with the slight
error that she was a Blue-Ribband holder.  She could have been, probably, but wasn't... 

Also in album are images of Seawise University brochures.
The ship was within a few months of her maiden voyage cruise from Los Angeles
when she was destroyed by arson.

[Waverley]

Referring back to my first photo, I have found another one. Can anyone confirm if Andy's answer on Jan28th is correct and the ship was at Greenock in 1966?  Thanks. 

[stowaway2k]

Referring back to my first photo, I have found another one. Can anyone confirm if Andy's answer on Jan28th is correct and the ship was at Greenock in 1966?  Thanks. 

Another gorgeous photo, thanks.

Yes, I found the date I posted earlier of entering dryock on Dec. 11 1965 in a google news search, and departing drydock in March 1966 is also confirmed by googling...

[caledonia]

I recently purchased the snowbow DVD - The Great Cunarders ( Part 4 of the series) and it really is superb alot of the footage appears to be Cunard publicity material but the old Queens are in it, the Green Godess, and numerous other Cunarders. Ther is wonderful footage of the Caronia undertaking a world cruise in the 50's and a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Elizabet from the same period ( with a wonderful shot of the Queen Mary passing her mid atlantic) As a bonus the last couple of minutes are of the QE2 departing Southampton and New York - wonderful memories.
WEBSITE - www.snowbow.co.uk

[Waverley]

The end - January 1972

[attachment deleted by admin because its too large]

[Scott Ebersold]

Stowaway, where in downtown New York were the Q and E?

[stowaway2k]

Stowaway, where in downtown New York were the Q and E?

Hello Scott
They were (are?) in the Wall St. district, at  Pine St. no. 88 I think, where it ends at Water St.
There has been a lot of construction there for quite a while, and possibly the letters are hidden by scaffolding or temporarily relocated for safe-keeping.  But it's been a while.
They were actually in the sidewalk with a plexi cover.

[stowaway2k]

The end - January 1972

Always tough to see...

Here is an eyewitness account with stunning photos
http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/ships/cu_qe.asp

[mrkpnh (Malcolm K)]

The end - January 1972

That photograph makes me want to cry 

[mrkpnh (Malcolm K)]

stunning photos

One picture was bad enough 

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Elizabet from the same period ( with a wonderful shot of the Queen Mary passing her mid atlantic)

Those were the days... Nowadays it is so rare for two Cunard ships to be on the North Atlantic at the same time, that they go in tandem when they go. Those were the days when the Queens sped across the Atlantic and provided a service for those who wanted to go somewhere. I believe we have almost lost the feeling for what a crossing is like... it seems so normal now to take a back-to-back crossing, which of course turns it into a cruise...

Those days were before my time and I can hardly imagine them... but it would have been wonderful to have been there and done that...!

[Kathy M.]

I spent hours the other day trying to find a photo of the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary docked at Commonwealth Pier in Boston in the 1940s - my father told me one exists somewhere (he saw them in person - he said it was amazing that they were so large that their bows hung over the street when they were docked.  I couldn't find one in any source online, so I am going to make a trip to the Boston Public Library photo archives when I get the boys back in school to try to find it!

[Fairfield]

She lay off Greenock Esplanade after arrival on  December 5th. Here's some photos of the occasion which the late Mike Campbell and I  took-his are in colour- also the Notice to Mariners of her movement originally planned for the 9th. but delayed for two days as a large rock had lodged in the Dock Gate causing damage. 

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Seeing those pictures, Paul, makes me too lament the fact that the days are gone when the Clyde was a world centre of the shipbuilding industry, when the giants of the day were there to be built, to be repaired and to be admired.

For those who had known those days or, for the younger generation, had kept the folk memories of those days, it must be devastating indeed to find almost all the shipyards gone, the docks levelled, the workers unemployed and then also gone, and the great river now a backwater of glorious scenic beauty with very little industry...

Maybe my remark is partially caused by just having looked at these pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98346459@N00/3806532265/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98346459@N00/3807370328/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98346459@N00/3807389948/

Of the construction of some of the old Greenock docks and harbours.

[Jem]

For those who had known those days or, for the younger generation, had kept the folk memories of those days, it must be devastating indeed to find almost all the shipyards gone, the docks levelled, the workers unemployed and then also gone, and the great river now a backwater of glorious scenic beauty with very little industry...

I to find it amazing how we lost our lead in the ship building word. In 40 years from being world leaders to where we are now is incredible. Many people say it is because we were far to slow to change when containerization came along. We still seem to be good designers but can no longer build these vessels. I'm 49 and its all changed in my time, scarey. Thought the Queen Elizabeth vid was great!

Cheers

[Fairfield]

Indeed, it's the same in many of the former dock and shipyard areas round Britain. Given over to in many cases in my opinion to ill planned residential and leisure areas just for the sake of filling a space. We need industry back, not loads of supermarket vacancies.

[luzparis]

i love Queen Elizabeth  with her typical design modern and classic !! I love her interior  not very famous than Queen mary  and i love her story !!

[Twynkle]

RMS Queen Elizabeth departing Southampton for the final time - 1968.
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=83546

The superb Model of QE2 - Please, does someone know - might it be possible to see it?
I wonder where it is now; pray it didn't sink in HK harbour too....

[mickey g]

Help.

I have been given a pair of hand painted Queen Elizabeth cufflinks which I shall wear with pride on my January QM2 eastbound crossing (along with my Concorde and QE2 silver ones).

In the box is the mounting card which states "Special Manufacture" and "Made in Great Britain".

On the reverse is hand written "Geoffrey Holley" and "3E UPPER".

I am assuming that 3E Upper refers to his school class, however, as I cannot find out any cabin numbering system on Queen Elizabeth I just wondered if that could be one..............?

Can anybody help?

[Twynkle]

A Slide show of Superb Catalogue / Brochure? Photographs of RMS Queen Elizabeth 1947

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpzUoj2aAxI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpzUoj2aAxI</a>

[mickey g]

Absolutely brilliant Twynkle, well discovered

[highlander0108]

WOW, great find once again Rosie.  Takes you right back to the golden days of transatlantic travel. 

[3QueensGirl]

Do you remember? Today 38 years ago, on January 9, 1972 RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH went up in flames in Honk Kong. On this occasion I republished and old post which includes a correction about the whereabouts of her remains. For those interested in plans, there is a link to a set of documentary drawings. Long live the Queen.
http://cunardqueens.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/rms-queen-elizabeth-%e2%80%93-the-forgotten-queen/

[Twynkle]

About Commodore Geoffrey Marr D.S.C., R.D., R.N.R.
Master of RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth

'Kentucky New Era' -  April 28 1976
Albany, NY
'Commodore Geoffrey Marr, the last Captain of the liner Queen Elizabeth is working these days as the second mate on the banana boat Manzabares.
"It keeps me young and from rusting away in the chimney corner of my home" in Wiltshire. England, says Marr, who has spent more than 50 years as a seaman.
Marr was aboard the Manzabares Tuesday when it arrived i the Port of Albany to deliver a load of bananas.'
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=266&dat=19760428&id=KbU0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=y2gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4519,3146837

Commodore Marr - Obituary
'The Herald and Times' -  March 6th 1997
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/commodore-geoffrey-marr-1.409599