Top Liner 1948...RMS Queen Elizabeth

[nigelb]

To answer, I remember being very excited about the journey to the New World but as we sailed up the Solent, I was rather sad as I watched the shoreline recede in the distance, because I realized I was leaving my country, perhaps forever. The QE sailed to Cherbourg and although we could not disembark, I counted it as a visit to France which was exciting because I had never left England at all before. We then crossed the Atlantic and hit some late October storms. Both my sisters were sea sick but fortunatly I was not. The QE was equiped with stabalizers to help steady her, but when the seas were rough they had to turn them off as they did not react fast enough. I can remember drink glasses sliding back and forth on tables. The ship itself was magnificent, a city on the sea, complete with stores, a cinema and swimming pools and a bank and lots of entertainment. You could pay for items in the stores using either dollars or sterling and it was interesting to figure out which currency was more benficial to pay in. Hey, I was on a very limited budget. Our accomodations were not at all as pictured in the film we were "Tourist Class" in a cabin with no windows and below the decks. The food on board was amazing, even in tourist class. I met an American boy about my age and we snuck off and smoked - one of my first cigarettes and that was exciting although very stupid in hindsight. His father told us they were from " Balmer, Merlind" It took us a while to realize he meant Baltimore, Maryland. He told me the kids in school in the States would love my accent. Rather ironic, I thought, considering his accent. I also met a rather well endowed American teen age girl from Florida on whom I developed a crush. She was older and wiser and thought I had beautiful blue eyes, but that was the extent of our freindship, unfortunatly. Excercising unusual (for me) self-control, I did refrain from commenting on her charms.

At one point we passed the Queen Mary in the night and both ships sounded their horns, greeting one another. Another day passed of endless sea as we neared America I got up very early to see the Statue of Liberty as we entered New York harbour. I was the only one that bothered as my sisters were still suffering from sea sickness. New York looked magical with all the skyscrapers and lights as dawn broke on the Hudson; that was very exciting. I still felt some pangs of sorrow though, as I realized I was so far from England, a place I will always love and that will forever be in my heart.

Nigel²

[Garry Russell]

Thanks for that Nigel

I can understand your apprehension. In those days it was a one way trip for most and there is no way you could have guessed that in your lifetime the adventure of crossing the Atlantic in four days would shrink to a route that is almost a medium route of a few hours and affordable. You can go anywhere today fairly easily against those days where the one way ticket was bought off the proceedings of selling everything bar what you carried aboard.

The passing of the two Queens was always a celebrated event and if they could they would alter speed slightly to ensure they passed in daylight but that didn't always happen.

I never saw the Mary and only the top half of the Elizabeth as mentioned earlier. I did see a few other liners in those days and the QE2 a few times later. They always had a sort of magic about them as they sailed close to or slightly over the horizon in a sort of Hollywood dream haze.

You couldn't help but think who was on board. Any large ship passing by at distance has a sort of magic. When I grew up in the sixties the Queens were the supreme leaders in that field but as with all things there is a thought that it would always be so. When the Mary went in 67 and the Elizabeth a year later it really did mean a part of history shutting up shop. They had tried to use the,m for cruises but they were not built for it and unsuitable. Some Atlantic crossings saw more crew than passengers.

The was a sense of pride and for many years it was thought that the Elizabeth would remain the largest passenger ship ever built. There was not the money even at country level to build such a ship and the economics of trying to operate it were impossible. The the big cruise revolution came and a partial swing away from air travel to a holiday and the travel as a cruise being the holiday itself has seen a whole host of ships far far larger..

Yet, they are not the same and like the finest piston airliners and the best intercontinental turbo props, the two Queens remain on top. The modern jet is in an incomparable league to the older aircraft and the modern cruise liner is something very different to the Atlantic Ferry that the Queens were built as.

I would just like to see more about the Elizabeth. I found this and other stuff researching for the Airfix model I'll make one day. There is quite a bit to be found on the net but not as much as you'd expect for something as famous as she was. She still sits in Marys shadow not only because Mary exists but mainly because the American almost adopted the Mary.

Glad you got a chance to travel in style Nigel. Certainly something to tell the grandchildren. Like all good stories of a bygone era, it was sort of ordinary in a way, magical that it was the famous ship or whatever in person, but it was not seen in the light of something that passed.

A bit like the classic British aircraft at LHR a few years back...just another Trident and, oh looks there are One-Eleven in about five different airlines and the VC 10 that just landed as joined a flock of others arround Oceanic. They were there yesterday and will be there tomorrow. then they were gone and you start to wish you'd taken just a little more interest and many more pics.

Yes, you appreciated them at the time, but not as much as you miss them now.

[dodger]

Hi Nigel,

Quite an adventure for a young lad, have you come back to the UK Nigel over the years?

I can understand being on a ship leaving the UK for the first time, it was certainly a funny feeling i must say.

Cheers,

Roger.

[FlyTexas]

Thank you so much for sharing your memories of the QE with us Nigel. That must have been an amazing experience. I can only imagine how it felt to leave your home for a new country...wow. Sorry things didn't work out with the top-heavy Floridian girl. Thanks again for sharing your memories of the QE with us.

Brian

[Tomliner]

The only time that I saw QE1 was during the national seamanship strike in 1966.We were on holiday on the IOW and boats were taking tourists to Southampton docks where you could see almost every famous liner tied uo.Both Queens were in as we'll as several 'Castle' liners.The weather wasn't very good but I managed to take a few poor quality shots on my Instamatic camera!
Many years later(1981) I did take the tour on board the Queen Mary at Longbeach.
Talking of Queens,there are quite e few to be seen around Broughton St in Edinburgh! EricT

[Tomliner]

The only time that I saw QE1 was during the national seamans strike in 1966.We were on holiday on the IOW and boats were taking tourists to Southampton docks where you could see almost every famous liner tied uo.Both Queens were in as we'll as several 'Castle' liners.The weather wasn't very good but I managed to take a few poor quality shots on my Instamatic camera!
Many years later(1981) I did take the tour on board the Queen Mary at Longbeach.
Talking of Queens,there are quite a few to be seen around Broughton St in Edinburgh! EricT

[Garry Russell]

On an aside, the three funnels of Queen Mary as preserved are not the originals.

Those were corroded and so scrapped and replaced with glass fibre replicas. They are smaller or at least shorter then the originals and Disney had them changed to a different red. Both these thing were coarried out to 'improve' her appearance...yeah right

The most iconic feature of the Mary...and they change it

[FlyTexas]

The only liner I've ever seen in person is the Queen Mary. Saw her in Long Beach in the early 70's. I was amazed how large she was. I've since seen a couple of those flash and glam cruise liners but those don't count as real liners.

Brian

[nigelb]

Hi Nigel,

Quite an adventure for a young lad, have you come back to the UK Nigel over the years?
.....
Cheers,
Roger.

Yes, I have been back many times. Much faster on a jet but hardly as much fun and adventure. After my father passed away my mother, who never really liked America, moved back to Rhyl, Wales once all the kids were grown up. She always said she was moving back because of the NHS! I will say that when she finally passed away in 2006, she would have been bankrupted by medical expenses had she lived in the US.


The two Queens passed each other in the night and I could not see the Mary, but certainly heard her horn. My parents originally considered flying to the US (jet service had begun a few years earlier) but that was not practical because you could take lots of luggage on the Queen elizabeth and we had many trunks and suitcases. Thre rest of our household goods arrived in a huge freight container four months later.

Nigel²

[emfrat]

Quite a few years ago, on a visit to the UK, I took my late Dad a book about HMAS Sydney. That book has what is claimed to be the only photo of both the Queens at sea in company, off Jervis Bay in Oz.
Our family started off in Clydebank. On Dad's first or second day at school (1918) he saw HMS Hood being launched , from John Brown's Yard. Some 23 years later, as a RNVR Sub-Lt at Portsmouth Barracks, he heard the report of Hood being sunk, with only three survivors.
This came out almost by accident, when a niece emailed all her ancient rellies a form to fill out about life in primary school, as part of a school project. Otherwise we would never have known.

ATB
MikeW