Rest In Peace, Captain Harrison

Leslie Nielsen passed away on November 28, 2010 at the age of 84. But before his defining roles in "Airplane!" and the "Naked Gun" movies, he commanded the Queen Mary. Twice.

"Surely you can't be serious!"

I am serious...and don't call me Shirley.

Really, though. Leslie Nielsen appeared as Captain Harrison in "The Poseidon Adventure" back in 1972. Although he gets very little real screen time, his character did strike me as being quite the capable seaman. And is it just me, but does Leslie Nielsen bear a slight resemblance to Captain John Treasure Jones? Captain Harrison, anyway, is presumably killed when the Poseidon capsizes.

Mr. Nielsen would again take "command" in 1985. An episode of "Murder, She Wrote" found Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) aboard a ship bound for the Caribbean and under the command of a Captain Daniels. No doubt the producers thought it would funny to have him reprise his role. Thankfully the ship fared better.

In all seriousness, though, it's sad to hear that Leslie Nielsen is gone. He brought so much laughter and joy to audiences everywhere with his uncanny ability to be silly and hold a straight face. May he rest in peace.

And to conclude this post on something somewhat related to ocean liners:

QE2: A Lady in Waiting

The famed Queen Elizabeth 2 - or more affectionately known as QE2 - arrived in Dubai on November 26, 2008 after serving the Cunard Line for a total of 40 years. She became one of the most beloved ships that the world has ever known, and her legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of those who sailed and worked aboard her. Sold to interests in Dubai, the QE2 was to be converted from an ocean liner to a floating hotel and tourist attraction (just as her predecessor Queen Mary was when she arrived in Long Beach, California). Several plans were made, including one to remove her famous funnel and replace it with a glass replica that would house several luxury suites. Another would replace her engine room with a dance club. These and more are outlined below:


Since the QE2's arrival two years ago, however, she has remained virtually untouched. The Cunard Queen sits empty in port with much of her furniture and fittings still aboard: as if she's waiting for the chance to set sail once again. Worsening economic conditions forced her owners to abandon their initial plans, and so she sits "like a modern-day Mary Celeste, abandoned and untouched" at her berth in Port Rashid.


No one knows for sure what the future of the Queen Elizabeth 2 may be, but one can only hope that this old ship will be saved from the breakers who would gladly dismantle the happy memories of so many people from across the globe.

References: Mail Foreign Service, "QE2 abandoned at Port Rashid in Dubai," Mail Online, March 16, 2010, under "Travel," http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1258298/QE2-abandoned-Port-Rashid-Dubai.html (accessed November 28, 2010).

Rivalries

The great rivalry between the White Star Line and Cunard is legendary among maritime enthusiasts. Each company was famous for trying to outdo the other by building bigger, faster, and more luxurious ships than the world had ever seen before (i.e., Cunard's Mauretania and Lusitania versus White Star's Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic). It should be no surprise to learn that this rivalry extended all the way down to those who actually worked aboard these liners. This was undoubtedly an underlying cause to an event that future-Commodore Harry Grattidge described while serving as Fourth Officer aboard the RMS Carpathia. But the main reason seems to have concerned a far deeper sense of rivalry:

At 6:30 P.M., a bugler sounded the dress call, which gave us just time to take our seats in the dining saloon as another bugle sounded at seven. At Genoa, where we lay alongside the White Star liner Canopic, the dinner bugle had provoked a long-standing feud. At the appointed hour the bugler from each ship would march solemnly on deck. To hail each other was beneath their dignity, nor did they even glance at each other, for, while our bugler had belonged to the Household Cavalry, the Canopic’s bugler had served with the Irish Guards. (Only a Guardsmen could appreciate the deep significance of this.)

Instead they let the music signify their rivalry and the harbor rang with the shrill notes of “The Roast Beef of Old England,” each man contesting for the extra note until one felt that their lungs must burst under the strain. They were implacable, they would not give up, and more often than not the contest ended in a dead heat.

As stated, sometimes this rivalry extended far beyond what company the crew individual member worked for. It nevertheless contributed to the somewhat tense relations between the White Star Line and Cunard.

References: Captain Harry Grattidge, Captain of the Queens: The Autobiography of Captain Harry Grattidge, Former Commodore of the Cunard Line as told to Richard Collier (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1956), 65-66.

A Chef's Lot

The chefs found on the Cunard Queens were masters of their craft. They were the ones responsible for creating the exciting dishes and desserts that passengers would crave for again and again on a regular transatlantic crossing. Their lives, as such, revolved around creating these culinary masterpieces. Arthur Townshend, former Head Chef on the Queen Mary, explains a regular day's routine:

Well as far as working hours were concerned we used, well all kitchen staff, started work at 6.30 in the morning and you more or less got a break of an hour during the forenoon. This was your morning break which was arranged by your leading cook according to work. The idea was to get below, have a wash and a shave and clean apron, straighten yourself up. You could call at the linen locker and get a clean apron, even in those days before the war the linen was available to us. You’d have a break, have a smoke if you so desired, then you’d go back to work again. You worked to half past two, quarter to three, having gone through the traumatic system of lunch. After having overcome lunch we, the kitchen staff, departed for our afternoon break which was sacrosanct. It was the witching hour to go and rest your weary head if you so desired, which most of us did. Not a sound would be heard in the cooks’ quarters, wasn’t allowed to be heard in the cooks’ quarters during the time between 3 and 4.30pm. 4.30 you came back to work again. Of course, the kitchens were left with an afternoon staff on, not a full staff, but those that were doing the afternoon work stayed there until the rest of the cooks came back at 4.30pm. Then you continued work, preparing for dinner, which was served at 7 o’clock, and you worked on until you got out of the kitchens, round half past ten in the evening. A long day and when you’d done the day you knew you’d done it. But it was a day that was occupied. You didn’t have a lot of time to feel sorry for yourself.

Such was their lot aboard the Mary, but one can bet that they felt a tremendous sense of pride in their work.

References: Chris Howard Bailey, comp., Down the Burma Road: Work and Leisure for the Below-Deck Crew of the Queen Mary (Southampton: Oral History Team Southampton Local Studies Section) 47-48.

"...to deliver the passengers fattened and lethargic."

Food, as has been discussed in posts throughout the week, has always held a privileged place on an ocean liner. Just as Commodore Robert G. Thelwell discussed his weight problem, it should be no surprise that passengers faced that very same "Battle of the Bulge." The following comes from Mrs. Velma Krauch, who traveled aboard the Queen Mary on her final crossing from Southampton to Long Beach in the latter part of 1967:

Along about now Hannah and I were beginning to feel the sins and corruption of a cruise diet. While dressing for dinner one night I walked into her cabin fumbling with the zipper on my skirt, gasping, "Good Lord, look at this. What will I wear for dinner if the waistband on my one and only long skirt gets any tighter?"

Before she could answer, Bill popped in with his perennial cheer, and offered, "There's not a thing wrong with the waistband...why don't you try doing something about the f-a-t underneath it?"

He did have a point, miserable as it was.

Of course the lazy days laying in the sun, leisurely swimming in the pool, and sitting around the Smoke Room before dinner with drinks and appetizers, did little to stem the flow of obesity. Whenever I attempted a good brisk, athletic walk around the deck, my inborn magnetic compass automatically pulled in the direction of a steward serving either boullion and crackers or tea and pastries. Cunard, I know, had to fulfill her side of the contract with Long Beach, but I have a sneaking suspicion that somewhere in the fine print was a line that read, "and to deliver the passengers fattened and lethargic."

I imagine that many of Mrs. Krauch's fellow travelers would have heartily agreed with her.

References: Velma Krauch, Three Stacks and You're Out: A light hearted account of the Last Voyage of the R.M.S. Queen Mary around Cape Horn (Los Angeles: VanLee Enterprise, 1971), 90-94

A Gala Dinner on the Normandie

The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique - more commonly known as the French Line - celebrated the Normandie's debut with a gala dinner aboard the new liner. Everyone in France's high society was there, along with President Albert Lebrun and his wife. Even Sir Percy Bates, the head of the rival Cunard Line, was among the attendees. As the presidential couple entered the ship's magnificent dining room, all one thousand people waiting for them stood up and feverishly applauded. As everyone rose, it is said that the sound of chairs scraping agaist tile was deafening.

The dinner was to represent the very best of French cuisine. Only the finest would do. The chefs prepared a grand meal that included courses of turtle soup, turbotin aux poireaux, canard rouennaise braisé, and finally finished with a brand-new dish called Bombe Normandie. It was "a sinfully rich chocolate-covered finale that, appearing for the first time that night, would reappear repeatedly at numerous banquets to follow." To complete the evening, coffee and candy was distributed to the diners in good order.

It was a highly successful and elegant beginning for the Normandie's painfully short career.

References: John Maxtone-Graham, Normandie: France's Legendary Art Deco Ocean Liner (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007), 118-119.