The Many Faces of the RMS Queen Mary

 By Sherri Stewart

Even larger than the Titanic and just as elegant, the R.M.S. Queen Mary was once considered the finest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The Queen Mary made a thousand transatlantic crossings in the mid-20th century before it retired in Long Beach, California. I will be spending the night on the ship—pardon me—ocean liner—in October, so I can experience in a small way what it was like for its passengers to cross the Atlantic back in the day.

https://eyeoftheflyer.com/2020/04/06/queen-mary

The Queen Mary was built during an age when countries such as Britain, France, and Germany competed to build the finest, fastest ships. Two rival British companies, the Cunard and White Star lines, sought to outbuild each other’s ships in terms of size, speed, and amenities. A British shipbuilder, John Brown and Company, commissioned by Cunard, began construction of the Queen Mary—initially known only as Hull Number 534—in December 1930 in a Scottish shipyard. The company was already well known for having built the R.M.S Lusitania, which was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in 1915.

 

https://Lewrockwell.com/anavoidabledisaster

With the onset of the Great Depression, construction on the Queen Mary came to an abrupt halt. However, in 1934, the new Cunard-White Star Line was born, and construction on the ship immediately resumed. As part of the merger, the government stipulated that a sister ship, the Queen Elizabeth, be built, so the two ships could together dominate transatlantic travel between England and New York.

While it was under construction, the ship’s name was a closely guarded secret. On September 26, 1934, Britain’s King George V and his wife, Queen Mary of Teck, were on hand in Southampton to christen #534. The queen consort then cut the ribbon and christened the ship with a bottle of wine. The R.M.S. Queen Mary began its maiden ocean crossing two years later, on May 27, 1936, from Southampton to New York. By the way, R.M.S. stands for royal mail ship. All vessels with this designation had contracts with the government to carry British mail. 

https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/in-pictures-clydebuilt-ocean-liner-queen-mary-launched-on-this-day-in-1934/

Inside the ship, five dining areas, two swimming pools, beauty salons, and a grand ballroom attracted wealthy passengers and celebrities to the ship’s first-class accommodations. Hollywood stars, business magnates, and politicians traveled on the Queen Mary, including Clark Gable, Bob Hope, Queen Elizabeth II, and Winston Churchill. In addition to first class, the ship also offered second and third-class accommodations, with the most cramped quarters reserved for the crew, who sometimes bunked ten to a room. 6https://mavink.com/explore/RMS-Queen-Mary-Dining  

https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour-extras/churchill-in-manhattan-1949/

In September 1939, the Queen Mary had just crossed to New York when the British government ordered that it remain in port there until further notice. Eventually, Allied forces determined that the Queen Mary, along with the Normandie and Queen Elizabeth, be reconfigured as troopships to carry soldiers to various battlefronts. The ship’s hull and funnels were painted battleship gray, earning the ship the nickname “The Grey Ghost.” These highly valuable troopships were capable of moving as many as 15,000 soldiers at a time.

https://travelnotesandbeyond.com/weekly-postcard-queen-mary-memento-bygone-era/

British forces assigned the H.M.S. Curacoa to serve as an escort ship for the Queen Mary during World War II. However, on October 2, 1942, the two ships were scheduled to meet off the coast of Ireland. As was typical during wartime, the Queen Mary traveled across the sea in a zigzag course meant to throw off pursuit by enemy U-boats. Unfortunately, the Curacoa headed in a straight course, and unbeknownst to either ship, the two were headed right for each other. Before the ships’ crews could take action, the Queen Mary collided with the Curacoa, cutting the smaller ship in two and sending it to the ocean floor. Although more than a hundred sailors were rescued, 337 men lost their lives. 

https://travelnotesandbeyond.com/weekly-postcard-queen-mary-memento-bygone-era/

Once the war ended, the Queen Mary required ten months of work to be retrofitted so that she could go back into commercial passenger service. The Cunard-White Star Line added more berths in all three classes, as well as air conditioning. She returned to the seas in July 1947, along with her sister ship, the Queen Elizabeth, and remained a popular oceangoing vessel for the next two decades until the Queen Mary retired to become a floating hotel in Long Beach, California. Kim O’Connell. “Eleven Facts about the Queen Mary,” Mental Floss, June 8, 2018.

Selah Award finalist Sherri Stewart loves a clean novel, sprinkled with romance and a strong message that challenges her faith. She spends her working hours with books—either editing others’ manuscripts or writing her own. Her passions are traveling to the settings of her books and sampling the food. She traveled to Paris for this book, and she works daily on her French and German although she doesn’t need to since everyone speaks English. A widow, Sherri lives in Orlando with her lazy dog, Lily. She shares recipes, tidbits of the book’s locations, and other authors' books in her newsletter.

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Secrets Dark and Deep

TV anchor, Maddie Caldecott, has a secret so deeply buried within that she doesn’t remember it. But the man called Absalom knows her secret, and his threats to exact his revenge are becoming more and more intrusive. As an investigative reporter, Maddie can dig out the truth of any story, but she can’t unearth the secret she’s blocked until it’s too late.

Police Detective, Brody Messner, is at his wits end. How can he protect Maddie if she resists his every suggestion? His need to protect her has become personal. From Orlando to Zürich, he follows her, trying to stay one step ahead of her assailant—all of his notes to her, and the song. https://bit.ly/49gE1wp