The Queen Mary-A Historical Legend By Pete Allman

The Queen Mary - A Historical Legend

by

Pete Allman

The RMS Queen Mary is the most famous ocean liner in the world. During its heyday, Clark Gable, Sir Winston Churchill, Bob Hope, Tony Curtis, Fred Astaire, Robert Montgomery, Loretta Young and Don Ameche were a few of the notables who enjoyed the elegance of the Queen Mary.

During World War 11, The Queen Mary carried over 800,000 troops to many destinations around the world, traveling to New York when it was decided in 1940 that she was no longer required for active service. It was then reinstated in 1947 to her normal routine in the North ,Atlantic. The occurred after 1500 men from John Browns shipyard traveled to South Hampton, U.K. and were  employed on renovating the ship, returning 10,000 pieces of furniture that had been in storage in New York, Australia, and the U.K. All the furnishings had to be brought back to England and returned to the ship.

The Queen Mary holds the record for transporting 16,683 troops at one time from New York to Scotland.
In May of 1967 Chairman of Cunard, Sir Basil Small wrote wrote,''It is a matter of great regret to the company and to me personally, as it will be to friends throughout the world, that these two ships The Queen Mary and The Queen Elizabeth, must shortly come to the end of their working lives.''

New Life for The Queen Mary

In 1967, the city of Long Beach was the successful bidder of the Queen Mary at a cost of $ 3,450,000. She made her last trip from South Hampton on October 31st.,1967, arriving in Long Beach on December 9th. After four years of dry-docking and conversion into a hotel and a series of restaurants, including tourist attractions, it would be ready for tourist around the world to see.

Recently I met Commodore Everette Hoard aboard The Queen Mary. Commodore Everette has lived his long life dream of hosting the public on the Queen Mary. He is without question a wealth of knowledge, as he's been at The Queen Mary for 33 years.
According to  Commodore Hoard there are 57 different species of wood paneling throughout the ship.
Many of the staterooms have the original woods combined with modern amenities.
This reporter enjoyed re living what it was like to stay aboard one of the staterooms and walk the beautiful teak decks of the grand ship.



Queen Mary Tours

There are many tours to enjoy aboard Queen Mary. The most memorable happened to be  Diana- A Royal Exhibition located on theSsun Deck.This exhibition has nearly 2000 items relating to Princess Diana. One of the highlights is the dress collection. Some of the dresses are woth as much as $250,000.In fact the auction which Cristies Auction house hels in New York at the time Princess Diana aution off her dress and gowns raised a totoal of 5 million dollars. It is truly a remarkable jesture for a Princess who was adored by the world. Today her sons have kept the tradition of helping the less fortunate by caring on their Mothers work.
There are other tours aboard the Queen Mary, some of which are Ghoast and Legends, The Glory Days and the Scorpion Submarine, a Russian submarine. The Queen Mary is located in Long Beach, California at 1126 Queens Highway. For more information call 877-872-6628