Historical Society enjoy talk on Cunard and the QE2
Courtesy of Storm Ophelia, the October meeting of the Arran Historical Society on Monday was very different from the one planned, writes Norma Davidson.
The proposed speaker, David Anderson, was advised by Cal Mac not to travel and the forecast depleted the numbers considerably. Fortunately, 30 members did attend to hear a talk by Alan Richardson from Beith. A chance meeting with a member of the committee the previous day resulted in him being dragooned into the position of speaker in reserve.
Despite technical difficulties with compatibility of equipment, he gave us an interesting insight into the great liner company Cunard and the QE2 with the aid only of his memory, his mobile phone and small laptop to assist him.
In the 1830s, Victorian Britain needed a reliable and fast mail system to the USA. Samuel Cunard, a man of German descent and a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, approached the Admiralty where he was encouraged to provide three 800-ton vessels for this purpose. Engineer Robert Napier requested £32,000 per ship, but eventually accepted three for £30,000 each. Napier’s were shipbuilders and marine engineers in Govan. Robert Napier and Samuel Cunard became business associates and friends.
The British and North Atlantic Mail Steam Packet Company was formed and the tonnage and numbers of ships needed increased steadily. In 1840, Britannia was the first ship to be built. There was a financial penalty if these ships were late with the mail. By 1854, as many as 11 ships were requisitioned for use in the Crimean War. The Persia, launched in 1856, was the first iron-hulled liner, and was 390 feet in length. She hit an iceberg, but survived the incident. The Servia was solely a passenger ship, and the first turbine engine liner. The Camparia, the first to be fitted with a Marconi wireless system, made the fastest crossing in six days, and, in 1914 was converted to an aircraft carrier.
Sister ships Mauretania and Lusitania suffered different fates. Lusitania was sunk by a torpedo with the loss of 1,200 lives, while the Mauretania sailed for many years and held the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing for a long time. The Carpathia was the first ship to reach the Titanic after she sank in 1912. She herself was torpedoed in
1918. The Aquitania, the first to have a swimming pool, served in both World Wars. During wartime, Cunard lost 22 ships due to enemy action.
Queen Mary, the first ship to have a name not ending in an A, was launched in 1934 by Queen Mary, and went into service in 1936. She made the crossing in three days, 23 hours and 57 minutes, the first one to break the four-day crossing. She was withdrawn in 1967 and now sits in California.
The other great Queen, the Elizabeth, was launched in September, 1938, and gave luxurious and sterling service until she was withdrawn in 1968. After being sited in Hong Kong, she suffered a catastrophic fire and was a write-off.
In 1959, Cunard and John Brown of Clydebank started planning a Q3 liner. Vickers and Swan Hunter had also quoted a price. Both Cunard and John Brown and Company were loss-making companies and hoped such an iconic ship would see an upturn in their fortunes. The keel was laid in July 1965 and, the following year, Captain Warwick was named master-designate of the QE2. After her launch on September 22 by HM the Queen, she moved to the fitting-out basin. On a voyage from John Brown’s to the dry dock in Greenock she had just one passenger, a young Prince Charles. Her maiden voyage was in May 1969, when, under a new master, Captain Robert Warwick, son of the previous master, sailed from Le Havre.
She was a luxurious and much-loved ship, and gave great service as a troop transport and hospital ship in the Falklands War. On October 5, 2008, she came to the Clyde to say farewell to her birthplace. She was escorted by tugs, a Royal Naval destroyer, a helicopter and a flotilla of ferries, steamers and small boats. A fireworks display finished off the day. When she left Southampton for the last time on November 11, 2008, a helicopter flew over and dropped four million poppies on her.
The speaker and his wife sailed on her last cruise to Dubai via Lisbon, Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. The purchasers of the ship, a group of Arab sheiks, were on the quayside in Dubai to welcome her, but since being moved to dry dock very sadly nothing has been done to preserve or use her.
A few little facts about the QE2. One woman lived permanently on board. Two male escorts were employed to dance with unaccompanied female passengers. There has only been one wedding on board when permission was given for the marriage of Captain Robert Warwick’s daughter. The QE2 has sailed the equivalent of five times to the moon and back, has withstood sailing through the edges of a hurricane with seas that would have broken the back of a lesser vessel. She only once ever hit one of the notorious sandbanks in the Solent, and ironically this was on her last voyage. I believe many would agree she was the last of the elegant liners, and mourn her passing to be replaced by today’s unattractive cruise vessels, more floating apartment block than the graceful queen of the sea.
The society’s next advertised speaker has had to withdraw and, as the secretary had ample notice, was able to obtain a replacement. The speaker therefore on Monday November 20 will be Bill Fitzpatrick from Kilmarnock. He will speak, coincidentally, on the Titanic. His talk on Titanic has been delivered 36 times, but he has never spoken on Arran before now. The meeting starts at 2pm and visitors are most welcome.