During a short ceremony in the Queens Room New York Mayor John Lindsay was presented with a gold medallion by Cunard Chairman Sir Basil Smallpeice to commemorate the ship’s first arrival in the city.
The gold medal, inscribed on one side with an outline of QE2, had caused a little bother, both with the Bank of England and the United States Treasury Department. The first difficulty had been in getting permission from the Bank of England to take gold out of the country. Then Washington had to give permission for the medal to be imported into the United States without being put into Fort Knox along with America’s gold reserves. The letter authorizing the importation was not issued until Mayor Lindsay promised to sign a declaration that he would not melt the medal down for its gold content!
Having proclaimed 7 May 1969 in New York as ‘QE2 Day’ Mayor Lindsay, also said “the new Queen is a pride of New York as it is of Britain”, before presenting Sir Basil with a glass seahorse.
The official QE2 Day Proclamation stated:
WHEREAS, the Cunard Steam-Ship Company, Limited, has been serving the Port of New York for more than a century, since the first Cunarder, the 219-foot long Hibernia, arrived here from England in 1847, and
WHEREAS, Cunard liners have been moving in and out of our harbor longer than those flying any other house flag, and
WHEREAS, the legendary, luxurious liners of the Cunard Company have been majestic symbols of the ties between our two great English-speaking nations for 129 years, and
WHEREAS, New York has been a ‘second’ home port for such renowned liners as the Britannia, Lucania, Lusitania, Mauretania, Aquitania, Berengaria, and the two incomparable Queen ships – Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth, and
WHEREAS, the newest flagship in history’s greatest fleet of trans-Atlantic and cruise liners, the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, arrives on that day in New York harbor, completing her maiden voyage from Southampton, and
WHEREAS, the Queen Elizabeth 2 will continue the Cunard tradition of sailing great ships into this, the greatest port in the world, for decades to come,
NOW, therefore, I, John V Lindsay, Mayor of the City of New York do hereby proclaim May 7, 1969 as
QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 DAY IN NEW YORK CITY
and call upon all New Yorkers to note this historic occasion, a new chapter in the proud Cunard legend, and to welcome to our waters this newest and most magnificent of the great ocean steamships.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and cause the seal of the City of New York to be affixed.
John V Lindsay
Mayor of the City of New York