Suspect on Board

From The Evening Independent, St. Petersburg, FL, on this day in 1937:

Gun Dealer Held in Redwood Case

Hackensack, N.J., March 9 - AP - A New York gun dealer, identified by Prosecutor John J. Breslin Jr. as Moe Saraga, was held without bail today as a material witness in the killing of R. Norman Redwood, New York "sandhog" union leader.

Breslin said Saraga was the last known possessor of one of the pistols used to kill Redwood in front of his Teaneck home, Feb. 19. He was taken off the Queen Mary when it docked in New York early today, Breslin said, was rushed to the Wadsworth avenue [sic] police station - New York headquarters of the special police bureau set up to find the Redwood killers - and then brought to Hackensack.

Photo of sandhogs building NYC subway:
http://benpopper.com/tag/subway/

Local News

From the column "Personal Brevities" in the Berkeley Daily Gazette on this day in 1937:

Will Tour Europe

Miss Effie Burton, who has been visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Burton on University Avenue, left last week for Chicago and will go from there to New York where she will sail on the "Queen Mary" for a trip to Europe. She will visit with an uncle and aunt in Dublin, Ireland. Miss Burton is a concert singer and has several engagements to sing abroad.

After her tour, she will return home to Berkeley to make her home.

Photo:

www.cunardqueens.com

De-Flagged

From The Milwaukee Sentinel on this day in 1957:

EARLY SIGNS OF SPRING

SOUTHAMPTON England (AP) The approach of spring has brought a rash of student derring-do in England. Symptoms:

Two University lads broke into the heavily guarded dockyard here and walked off casually with the flags of the liner Queen Mary.

Recently 13 Manchester U students nailed a Soviet banner atop the 250-foot tower of Britain's Calder Hall atomic power station.

Mmmm....Mutton

From the Spokane Daily Chronicle on this day in 1957:

GROCERY ORDER HAD DEADLY ERROR

Security is a big word in today's language, peacetime or wartime. Wherever there are big military installations, secret manufacturing projects and hush-hush testing grounds, mum has to be the word on certain things.

That's because a military secret can spring a leak so easily and so many different ways. Capt. Harry Grattidge, former master of the liner Queen Mary, gave an example here last night of the way a leak may develop. The one that almost did could have cost the allies one of the world's biggest liners - loaded with 15,000 American troops.

The Queen Mary was sailing as an anonymous craft from New York to Australia. The course cut through submarine-infested waters of the South Atlantic. The 15,000 troops aboard needed huge supplies of food. A message to Rio ordered 200,000 pounds of mutton, among other things, without identifying the ship.

A young American naval officer spotted that one quickly. Mutton couldn't mean a United States vessel. It had to be a British ship. And 200,000 pounds? The ship had to be an enormous one. Answer: One of the Queen liners.

How unbelievably lucky, said  Captain Grattidge, that the message hadn't been picked up and interpreted that same way by somebody telling submarines where to strike.

Photo:

Lacanstria's Funnel

Displaced

From the "Social and Personal" column in The Montreal Gazette on this day in 1938:

Mrs. Charles Hope, who left on Wednesday for New York to sail by the Berengaria*, has returned home, and is leaving again on Tuesday night for New York to sail by the Queen Mary to join her father, Mr. F. J. Cockburn, at Bordighera, Italy.

*A fire on the Berengaria had put her out of commission.

Viscountess On Board

From the "Ottawa Social Notes" column in The Montreal Gazette on this day in 1946:

"The Viscountess Hardinge, who has been in Ottawa for several weeks, staying with her mother, Mrs. Hugh Fleming, left today for New York, and will sail for England by the Queen Mary."

Propaganda

From an article entitled, "NAZI ESCAPE CORRIDOR NOW IS NARROWED" in the Times Daily, Florence, AL, on this day in 1942:

"The Italian radio - perhaps just on a fishing expedition - declared today the 80,733-ton British liner Queen Mary was badly damaged by a torpedo hit off Rio De Janeiro several days ago with 10,000 "North American" soldiers aboard and was trying to reach the Falkland Islands.

"The Falklands, 250 miles east of the southern tip of South America, are the site of a British base.

"There was no confirmation of the report, which the Rome broadcaster attributed to "Argentine maritime circles." The U.S. Navy Department said it had no information or comment.

"The Queen Mary has been reported in various Canadian, Asiatic, African and European ports since grey war-paint was daubed over her black hull and she sailed two years ago as a troopship from the Hudson river waterfront in New York, where she shared attention with the now-capsibed [sic] Normandie. Her vast size, however, prevented her use of the Panama Canal."

Bad Advices

From the New York Times on March 2, 1930:

SEE BRITISH UNABLE TO BUILD BREMEN RIVAL; Shippers Say Construction Cost of 50,000-Ton Ships Would Prohibit Investment.

"According to advices received yesterday from London, there is no likelihood of the White Star or the Cunard steamship company contracting to build a liner of 50,000 tons or over to beat the North German Lloyd record held by the Bremen since last Summer."


Photo:
Cruising the Past

A Long Career

From The Montreal Gazette on this day in 1944:

Southampton, England - (CP) - The man who docked the liner Queen Mary for the first time and who was Southampton's oldest [harbor] pilot, 66-year-old Capt. George Bowyer, died recently from a heart attack.

In 1912 Bowyer was on board the Titanic, guiding her out of Southampton waters.

Photo:
www.titanic-titanic.com

Why?

From the The Florence Times, Florence, AL, on this day in 1956:

Vandals Hit Liner

SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) - Vandals have scarred and gouged decks, furniture and cabin walls aboard the Queen Mary.

The 81,000-ton ship is undergoing annual overhaul here.

The vandalism occurred over the weekend while workmen were away.

Other news sources reported that leather stool tops in the observation bar were slashed, offensive words written on walls, and a sharp instrument was used to inscribe the name of a popular cartoonist on a valuable painting in the smoking room.

An investigation was launched on February 29. No arrests were reported.

Photo:
http://www.sterling.rmplc.co.uk/visions/index2.html

If You Say So

From "News Behind the News - The National Whirligig" in The Evening Independent of St. Petersberg, FL, on this day in 1937:

SIT-DOWN. King Edward may be dead, politically, but the gallant spirit of his kingship moves through the lower decks of the ship named in honor of his mother - the Queen Mary.

The former king, as every informed person knows, did not lose his scepter over Mrs. Simpson. She was simply an occasion and a pretext. Britain's invisible government - the great economic interests - forced him out because they feared that they could not control him. And it was his comments upon dedicating the Queen Mary which first aroused their fears and suspicion.

The then king rambled through the great liner. He noted the comforts and luxuries provided for paying passengers, and contrasted them with the crews' quarters, where the sailors had to stand while they ate their food and drank their grog. This and similar comments cost Edward his crown, but they forced the Cunard line to install seats for its sailors. Thus Edward appears to have been a sit-down monarch in a big way!

A Classic On Board

Aboard the R.M.S. Queen Mary on this day in 1953: Howard Hawks, director of classic films like Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Mr. Hawks was on his honeymoon.

Source:
Corbis
IMDB

Expectations

From the Montreal Gazette on this day in 1931:

WORK ON CUNARDER EMPLOYS MANY MEN

______

Nearly 250,000 Expected to Benefit Indirectly From 73,000-Ton Contract

_______

Considerable interest is being aroused by the latest progress report on the new 73,000-ton Cunard liner, which should be launched from the shipyards of John Brown & Co., Limited, early next summer. It is expected that she will be completed and delivered to her owners before September, 1933. The keel has been laid and hull plates have been cut and prepared for placing in position.

About two thousand workers will be engaged on the construction of this liner at Clydebank by the end of this year, the majority of whom will be employed steadily until the contract is completed. Another thousand should be provided with work in the shipyard itself from time to time, bringing the total to 3,000 actually being engaged in building the ship. It is estimated, however, that nearly a quarter of a million persons will benefit directly or indirectly as a result of the order placed by the Cunard Steamship Company for this, the largest liner in the world.

Apart from men in the shipyard, thousands will be engaged in making hull and boiler plates, and in supplying internal fittings for berths, cabins and public rooms. Over four hundred beds will be required, 30,000 pieces of silverware have been ordered, 60,000 pieces of cutlery will be fashioned in Sheffield, and the chinaware and glassware are expected to stimulate trade in the pottery industry. Electricians will have to thread over a hundred miles of cables and wires through the ship, while joiners, upholsterers, marble workers, plumbers, and a host of other tradesmen will be employed to supply their quota of essential or luxury appointments. It is estimated that $15,000,000 will be expended in subcontracts.

In addition to labor engaged in building the ship and in providing equipment, the Clyde Trustees are spending about $400,000 in widening and deepening the river to facilitate the launch and despatch [sic] of this mammoth vessel. The Southern Railway Company are building a graving dock at Southampton specially for
her accommodation, which will be 1,200 feet in length, 45 feet wide and have an entrance width of 135 feet. Both these tasks will absorb many workers.

Photo:
Getty Images circa 1931: Men working on the cast steel frame of the new Cunard liner at Clydebank.

Converting Dining Spaces to Restaurants...?

From The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Washington, on this day in 1970:

Queen Mary Project Still Far From Final Completion

By DONALD H. HARRISON

LONG BEACH, Calif (AP) - Back in 1967, this Southern California port city plunked down $3.45 million for the aged - but still glamorous - liner Queen Mary and figured on building an instant tourist empire. It is still a long way from its dream.

The idea was that by chipping in another $5 million or so for renovaiton [sic] the city could transform the liner into a royal museum and floating hotel.

Today the cost to the city has ballooned to $32 million and still not a tourist has stepped aboard the ship. In her present stripped condition the Queen is far from presentable and she may not be ready for another year.

What city officials didn't figure was that a first-class sea-plying ship does not make a first-class landslide tourist attraction - not without major alterations.

Alterations Needed

Originally the city planned to house museum exhibits in existing facilities of the famed British vessel, convert dining areas into restaurants and cabins into hotel rooms. But engineers who made a feasibility study reported that unless the ship was disemboweled there wouldn't be room for major extravaganza exhibits.

And, the report continued, the ship, purchases [sic] from the Cunard ship lines, needed to be connected to utilities:  it needed complex electrical wiring, an air-conditioning system, permanent linkage to the shore's sewage system and plenty of nearby parking.

"We were faced with a choice," recalls City Manager John Mansell. "We could have left the Mary in the shape she was and hoped that tourist interest in her would sustain itself. Or, we could turn her into a gala attraction - the kind people rave about when they get home. [sic]

Mansell cited these reasons for upping the ante:

First - the city could afford it. Unlike most cities of 350,000, Long Beach is oil-rich. It receives 15 per cent of state revenues from neighboring oil fields for a total of about $250 million over the life of the field. By state law, the money must be used for harbor or seashore improvement and the state lands commission has ruled the Queen Mary museum fits that requirement.

Business Interested

Second - the Queen Mary's potential as the nucleus of a tourist-convention complex awakened big business interest in the city. The prospect of 3.5 million visitors yearly brought feelers from many corporations about building hotels, commercial office buildings and the like in Long Beach. And such developments would produce new revenue that could be used for inner city development.

Third - undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau predicted that with proper alterations the Queen could house the largest maritime museum in the world. Her formed a company to design and build a museum that would tell the story in light and sound of the sea's potential, its inhabitants and history.

Originally the city's shipboard partner, Diner's Club Queen Mary Corp., was to pay for converting suites into hotel rooms, public areas into shops and dining areas into restaurants. The city was to pay for altering the ship's structure and fashioning a museum.

Diner's Club had proposed spending $3.5 million, but "like the city, we saw the advantages of upgrading the project," said president Fred Rosenberg.  "We've got some $10 million tied up in the ship and plan to spend millions more for related projects."

When the Queen finally is towed to her permanent home - a 16-acre landfill site at the tip of the city's 310 acre Pier J - her bow will face the mainland. Passengers on her starboard side will view the city's downtown convention area from across a narrow section of harbor where the Los Angeles River empties.

Protected from currents by a breakwater, the 1,019 1/2-foot-wide Queen will be the crown jewel of Long Beach's emerging skyline. An aerial tramway will connect her to the convention center, and a new bridge - the Queen's Way span - will bring freeway traffic directly to her.

Visitors will walk through a landscaped park to inclined walks and escalators leading to various decks.

The top six decks will include 403 hotel rooms, most of them completely rebuilt or combinations of old staterooms, as well as scores of specialty shops, meeting rooms and halls for conventioneers, bars and restaurants.

The museum will be housed on the lower six decks, in cavernous spaces created by removing such mammoth pieces of machinery as the ship's propellors, boilers and engines.

From museum admissions - the price is still undecided - commercial leases and parking fees as well as hotel bed taxes, the city expects to recover its full investment in about 14 years. The money is to be returned to the city's tideland's fund.