Proud ‘Mary’
The Queen Mary became known as the ‘Gray Ghost” as she eluded German pursuers in World War II.
She’s an English lady, an expat retired to the shores of Long Beach, California. Hitler put a bounty of $250K on her for any ship’s captain that could sink her. But she could outrun a torpedo and was just too fast to catch.
She is the Queen Mary. Launched in 1936, she had a glamorous and swashbuckling career as a Brit. Over 1,000 feet long and 118 feet wide, she was double the size of the Titanic but built for speed. Her purpose was to deliver the mail from Southhampton England to New York City in under a week. The passage usually took her four or five days. She was built for speedy mail transportation, but she was competing with other ocean liners for passengers. So the walls were painstakingly adorned with magnificent woodwork and the grand public rooms were decorated to please the rich, the famous and the royal.
Her exterior was repainted battleship gray during World War II, and the Queen Mary served as a troop transport ship. She still holds the record for most people onboard a ship at 16,000. She was nicknamed the “Gray Ghost” because nobody could find her.
Journals of soldiers carried to Europe aboard the Queen Mary speak of debilitating seasickness and relentless rocking. The stabilizing technology that keeps modern cruise ships from pitching or rocking too much had not been invented when the Queen Marywas launched. Ship’s logs show that she rocked as much as 20 degrees. The onboard menu for troops was not fancy. Tomato soup and crackers for dinner, and oatmeal porridge for breakfast rarely had a chance to be digested anyway.
Three hundredpeople were injured when she met her first storm because hallway handrails hadn’t yet been installed.
Now the beautiful ship is permanently moored in Long Beach, California. Retired as an ocean liner in 1967 when she became too expensive to operate and with air transportation becoming common, the city of Long Beach bought her. They paid $3.5 million and spent over $120 million preparing her for life as an American.
Now permanently moored in Rainbow Harbor, she’s still afloat but disabled by the removal of her boilers. Though she’ll never traverse the Atlantic again, she serves as a posh hotel, an event center, tourist attraction and museum. Unlike a modern cruise ship, the ocean liner whispers “old money.” No expense was spared in making her spectacular in her 1930s art deco costume.
The top deck Sir Winstons boasts some of the finest dining on the West Coast. Though pricey, it’s a romantic destination restaurant with views of the harbor and the Long Beach skyline. The Beef Wellington I ate there was some of the most wonderful food I’ve had in my mouth.
The rooms have been updated in amenities without diminishing the feeling of a 1930s ship. The portlights (the correct name for a porthole) are left open day and night to catch the fresh sea breeze. The beds are comfortable, and everything is scrupulously clean. It feels very much like a step back into time.
The interior of the ship is in wonderful condition, but the exterior of the ship is in serious need of paint and other repairs. Long Beach has allotted $23 million for Queen Mary immediate care and plans to spend five times more than that all together in repairs and enhancements.
Her original decks are teak wood held in place with pegs. The grand ballroom feels like a step back in time when the music is about to start and Katherine Hepburn is at one table and Winston Churchill is at another. Photos of superstars and royalty taken on board the Queen Mary are scattered throughout the ship. One museum currently has a collection of English royalty artifacts and Lady Diana’s wardrobe and other keepsakes. The other is a display related to The Titanic.
The Queen Mary is last of the ocean liners. She’s protected by an American city that loves her. I’m so glad to have the chance to see and feel and experience that era through the Queen Mary.
Only in America. God bless it.