Smithy's Cruise Blog

QE2 is fondly remembered by thousands of Cunard supporters. Many still crave information about her and her future as she floats alongside her berth in Dubai. Rumours abound and no doubt before long we will know what is to happen to her.

As a result of my Cunard family connection, I am from time to time sent a variety of pieces of Cunard information and recently I was sent a link to a YouTube video entitled “QE2 – The Last Great Liner”. I started to watch the film, which was telling the story of the construction of the ship and the fact that QE2 broke down on her sea trials. After she  struggled back to Southampton, Cunard refused to accept delivery and there was talk of her being sold.

The film showed the work that was done to strengthen the faulty turbines, thereby resolving the issue. And then, on the film, up popped my late father, Captain George Smith standing on QE2’s bridge. For years I have trawled through old film of Cunarders hoping to see images of the old man but have never managed to spot him. And there he was, on the day Cunard accepted delivery of Queen Elizabeth 2, just as I remember him. These are stills from the film. Father has the four stripes and the bearded chap in the grey suit is Captain Bil Warwick. His son Ron Warwick became a Cunard Captain and was also Captain of the QE2 before becoming the first Captain of Queen Mary 2 and Commodore of the fleet.

If you search YouTube for “QE2 – The Last Great Liner” and then fast forward to the 20th minute you will find the moving images. After I had I sent the link to my sister Liz she said she felt somewhat emotional when she watched the film. Father died more than 30 years ago and as we didn’t have cine cameras in the family at that time, there will be very few moving images of him.

This is the new version of Smithys Cruise Blog. I have moved from Blogger.com as Google no longer support it and it crashes. I have a marvellous coach who helps me whenever The technology defeats me.

We board Queen Victoria on Thursday morning and it is important that I have mastered this format by then. But there is the small matter of packing for two and leaving the house in a presentable state for house sitter Linda. So bear with me!

That worked! Queen Victoria arriving in Southampton on Saturday, sporting her new shape (at the stern which you cannot see from this angle). More photos later.

Today Tuesday, Captain Peter Philpott, in a Q&A session in the theatre, was asked which storm was the worst that he had ever experienced at sea. He said that in his 36 year career he had encountered the worst on the first leg of the 2014 World Cruise.

Jane and I were on that voyage. We remember the first 6 or 7 days being wild, but had not realised how wild. Certainly we missed Ponta Delgada that time as well (although the Captain didn't mention that today!). What he did say today, which I had forgotten, was that for a time on that voyage, he had to 'heave to'. In other words, for the safety of the ship and those of us aboard, he had to turn the ship into the wind and waves, riding out the storm.

On a different topic, Queen Victoria is having a fairly major refit after the 2017 World Cruise. As many of you know, I have a number of pieces of Cunard memorabilia, exhibited on the ship in Cunardia on Deck 2 close to the Queens Room. My recollection is that I lent them to Cunard for 10 years (the documentation is at home!). It will be interesting to learn whether or not the exhibit is to be continued.

The most important piece is the original first logbook of RMS Queen Mary (now in Long Beach, California). It covers the voyage from Clydebank to Southampton after she was completed, the visits to the ship by King George V and Queen Mary (after whom, of course, the ship was named) and her first five voyages. It is handwritten by the various officers of the watch, hour by hour, day by day.

Erratum! Earlier on I said that our dinner table companion John was in plastics. Wrong! Further cross examination has revealed that he built up very successful companies in the furniture trade, eventually selling them and reinvesting in property.

Talking of 'Johns', on this trip are John and Pat Thompson from Sheffield who were our dinner companions when we first met. They were also on the 175 celebration cruise with us last year when a Baltic cruise also took in Liverpool and a meeting of the 3 Queens.

Rosie and Simon Claxton are also aboard. We have bumped into them many times on ships. Rosie is a Cunard fanatic. She seems to know nearly all the Officers and crew and all the gossip. We had lunch in the Veranda Restaurant with them a day or two ago.

I see the blog had a problem with too many photos truncating the narrative yesterday. I have republished the words without the photos and hope that has done the job.

The earlier speakers left the ship in Antigua and Barbados and the new troop arrived before we left St Maarten.

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I told you that we had a "Celebrity Speaker" aboard. I showed you a photo and asked you if you could name him. He was called Paul Fletcher. He had played football for Bolton and Burnley and had later been CEO of those and other clubs. His claim to fame was that he had been involved in building new stadia at those clubs and had also been on the committee involved in the redevelopment of Wembley. Some of us found it difficult to understand why Cunard had invited him to speak and why they had called him a celebrity.

General Sir Simon Mayall KBE CB is one of the new troop. He is a brilliant speaker. He is an expert on the Middle East and has been a Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Defence. Yesterday he gave us the complicated background to the troubles in the Middle East under the title History and the Crisis of Isis. Tomorrow it is the Ottomans.

We also have a naval historian speaking, Captain John Nixon. Today his topic was Captain William Bligh of the Bounty fame. The Mutiny is one of my favourite topics as a result of our day at Pitcairn Island in the early part of 2014. Tomorrow his topic is another man near the top of my list of great sailors, Admiral Lord Cochrane. Brother in law David Holt had lent me a book on the great man and I packed it when we went off round the world. I forgot about the book until we arrived in South America. Cochrane's exploits kept coming up during lectures and I'm sure I reported on him on the blog back in February 2014.