Hi Bobso,
The 'Seawise University' itinerary had been published before she was 'torched'. One of her first ports of call was Picton, New Zealand, which is one of our deepest ports.
I can remember how, as a young marine engineer, I was deciding how to juggle my seatime schedule on the old Ligar Bay so that I could get to Picton and view this huge liner. At the time I worked 3 months on-1 month off, so I had some serious juggling to do, and company approvals for the roster change as well, before I could get to Picton.
Following the sinking of the Wahine, then the Queen Elizabeth burning out and sinking in Hong Kong, my ideal of working on passenger ships became a little tarnished and I have worked only on cargo and offshore vessels ever since.
After the 'Wahine' had sunk entering Wellington Harbour, the master of that ship, Hector Robertson, became the salvage master of the recovery of his own vessel. On completion of that task, I seem to recall he and his team then accepted the contract to cut up and salvage most of the Queen Elizabeth, using the same technique they'd used on the Wahine.
On looking at the post-fire photos recently posted on the forum, the damage to the Queen Elizabeth was far more extensive than the damage sustained by the 'Gothic' (1953 Royal Yacht). I worked (as an engineering apprentice) on the Gothic after the fire, and can recall the melted porcelain baths, the warped decks, and the melted and exploded windows. But, the fire was contained by a competent crew and master, Captain Agnew. As a result, the fire-ravaged sections of the accommodation were able to be blanked off, and the warped decks were boarded over to give the crew a level surface to work on, resulting in the ship doing several more UK-NZ return trips before she was finally scrapped.
It would appear that no attempt was made by the workers to contain the fire on the Queen Elizabeth. Unfortunately, those few people who were on board (and may have actually initiated the fires) would not have been trained in fighting shipboard fires, and the firefighting systems may have been down anyway.
Back in those days of exposure film and flashbulbs, I doubt anyone would have taken the time to photograph her interior during the refit, they would have been waiting until completion, so I doubt any photos would exist. Photos taken during refits often have no similarity at all to the finished product, as the mayhem and mess only tend to magically disappear during the final few days before sailing.
Skilly
