Snapshot: Queen Mary at Rest

After 31 years of service, the famous Cunarder Queen Mary was sold to Long Beach, California. After arriving on December 9, 1967, she was reconverted for use as a museum, hotel and tourist attraction. Queen Mary has been in retirement for nearly 44 years now - longer than she ever sailed. She remains as one of the few links we have to a bygone age of travel.

God save the Queen!

The Commodore & the Banana Boat

The allure of the sea is too strong for some mariners, such as the late Commodore Geoffrey Marr. His association with the Cunard Line ended after a lifetime at sea and he settled into a well-deserved retirement at his home in England.

But it did not last long. Captain Bob Arnott (most famously of the QE2) describes what happened in his book, Captain of the Queen:

When he retired, Geoffrey quickly became bored and generally disenchanted with life ashore. And after a Cunard career culminating in command of the great Queens, he signed on as second mate of a banana boat. His fellow officers on the West India freighter knew all about their second mate's illustrious past, and used to call him "The Commodore."

There may have been a reason as to why Marr chose a banana boat.

After graduating from the training ship HMS Conway in 1924, his first job was with a company called Elders and Fyffes - "banana specialists," as the Commodore called them. It seems possible that perhaps his new, post-Cunard assignment reminded him of his earliest days at sea. But this is purely speculation on my part.


References: Captain Robert Harry Arnott, Captain of the Queen: The autobiography of the most famous sea captain of them all. (London: Quadrant Books, 1982), 126.

Commodore Geoffrey Marr, The Queens and I: The Autobiography of the Captain of the Queen Mary and the Last Captain of the Queen Elizabeth (London: Adlard Coles Limited, 1973), 13.

Commodore Bernard Warner Retires

Commodore Bernard Warner retired from the Cunard Line on April 19, 2011 after more than 40 years at sea.

Samuel Warwick (son of Commodore Ronald W. Warwick and grandson of Commodore William E. Warwick) has put together a rather nice summary of Commodore Warner's career at sea; I highly suggest taking a look. He has certainly lived an interesting life!

He will be missed by all those who sailed under him. I've never had the pleasure of meeting him, but from I read he is one of the nicest men to have ever donned the Cunard uniform.

Good luck to you, Commodore Warner!