Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Queen Mary, Long Beach

Ahoy, salty dogs! Today we be visitin' the most fearsome ship that ever sailed the Atlantic Ocean - The Queen Mary. You can do a search on this blog for info about the QM. Or visit your local liberry!


There she is, looking mighty fine. And as big as she is, today's cruise ships make her look like she needs to eat more steak. For instance, in the Queen's heyday, her weight was around 81,000 gross tons. The modern-day "Allure of the Seas" weighs in at over a quarter of a million tons!


Here is an artistic view of a smokestack, (also called "funnels" because they were used to pour sugar into bottles). As I said in an earlier post, the original funnels had to be replaced when it was discovered that the only thing holding the rusted metal together was many layers of paint. Notice the two great horns, also known as "tooty things".


Can somebody explain to me why ships like these usually had a large mast? Was it for radio communications?


I want to pull every one of those levers, and yell, "Ice berg, dead ahead!" into the speaking tube. And meet Kate Winslet, maybe. I'm sure she reads this blog.


Is this still something you can see on the QM? I remember looking down into the large enclosed pool that contained the giant bronze screw. Yes, I said it.


I have more photos from the Queen Mary, like it or not!

18 comments:

Cap'n said...

The foremost mast on the QM has a crow's nest from which on a clear day one could see for 9 miles. The crow's nest had electric heaters and a direct communication line to the bridge. The forward mast also had an antenna strung to the mainmast for long-distance shortwave communication at sea.

stu29573 said...

I still have my Queen Mary ceramic bank from when I was nine and we visited her. My main memory is eating a blueberry and ice cream sundae on board.... Good times!

Chuck said...

The funnels were also known as "stacks" because they had been previously used to shelve books in the library at Windsor Castle. In her day, many people used to note how well-stacked Queen Mary was - librarians in particular.

Anybody remember the episode of "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" that began on the Queen Mary? Each show would start with a teaser sequence of Bill Bixby and his on-screen son Brandon Cruz having a deep father-son discussion in a voiceover, followed by a montage of footage of the two of them playing at some landark or park over the theme song. This particular episode had them playing on the deck and bridge of the Queen Mary. Then Bixby's character got mad because the Jacques Cousteau Museum was closed, turned into Lou Ferrigno, tore off one of the Queen Mary's screws, and lobbed it northeast where it impacted on the grounds of the Disneyland Hotel.

I remember the screw pool from my one childhood visit to Long Beach. At that time, they had a dummy in a deep-sea diving suit reminscient of the G.I. Joe "Eight Ropes of Danger" playset perched on the screw to give you a sense of scale. Using little kid logic, I thought it was an actual diver doing maintenance. I couldn't figure out why he was so still. It would have been funnier if they'd had an employee in the suit who would periodically yell "BOO!" at startled guests....somehow...from under... water. Ummm...yeah.

Connie Moreno said...

Chuck, you and the Major missed your calling. You guys need to write comedy scripts!

I never saw the "screw pool" but then maybe it was gone by the time of my first visit back in 1980. Somewhere I've got pics, once I've finished moving and am all settled in, I'll fire up the new scanner and start sharing.

Glen Banks said...

OK- I used to WORK on the Queen Mary. I would regulary climb to the top of the front stack. There was a metal ladder- and at the tippy top was a tiny platform with a folding chair. I would peek over the top with my chin on the rim of the funnel. That was amazing! I also had a key to the crow's nest. The entrance to the crow's nest was two decks below. It was a LONG climb up inside a dark tube. Pretty scary! I have photos somewhere...

Major Pepperidge said...

Thank you for the info, Cap'n (from one officer to another)! I enjoy your cereal, especially with crunch berries.

stu29573, I have a custom-made pinback button showing a young Major Pepperidge in front of a Queen Mary life ring. If I can find it (it's around somewhere), I'll scan it someday.

Chuck, I forgot to mention the fact about the books. Thanks for keeping me accurate! I don't remember much about "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" except for the theme song, and Uncle Martin making stuff float when he pointed his finger.

Connie, I am looking forward to seeing your photos.

Glen, you are a braver man than me. I probably would have gotten halfway up the ladder and decided that climbing to the top was not such a good idea. But I'll bet that the view was spectacular!

sb-illustrations said...

Connie.........I'm surprised that you did not mention anything about the ethereal residents.

bloefeld said...

When I was a kid they auctioned off some original Queen Mary furniture. I remember my dad coming home with a table with sides that folded up to keep dinner ware from sliding off when the sea got rough. Pretty sure my mom still has it. Its got a little plaque of authentication on one of the fold down flaps. In other news, I think my uncle had a hot tub he dubbed the "screw pool."

Major Pepperidge said...

sb-illustrations, Connie knows that the ghosts will come and get her if she talks about them too much.

bloefeld, why did your uncle call his hot but the "screw pool"? (I get it, I just want you to explain it, ha ha!)

Katella Gate said...

Very nice pictures Major. These are from the earliest days of the tour. Bring on the rest, I dare you.

walterworld said...

The 'Propeller Box' was still there as of my visit in 2005.

Chuck: I remember the QM screw on the grounds of the Disneyland Hotel, and from the same memory era I also recall all the fun I had playing with my G.I. Joe "Eight Ropes of Danger" diver set in our pool! Thanks for mentioning it; I hadn't thought about it in years.

From the same time frame, do you recall those yellow plastic submarines that you put in the pool and they would dive to the bottom and then rise to the surface again powered by those little blue and white soda tablets that would make bubbles?

(Sorry for going off on a tangent, I'm not crazy...really)

Anonymous said...

I remember the yellow plastic subs. I bought one at Knott's.

Eric

Nancy said...

i need to see this someday....so cool! the closest i have been is seeing an exhibit of Titanic in Orlando almost 10 years ago now. it was interesting.

with each ticket came the name of a passenger, and at the end you got to see whether the person you were on the tour was saved or not! :( fortunately for Rachel and i, both of "us" were.

Chuck said...

I had friends who had both the yellow submarines with "submerging tablets" and swimming pools and remember them well. I was jealous of them...always jealous. But they'll pay dearly some day for the suffering they put me through. Oh, yes...they'll pay...

Anonymous said...

@Walterworld & @Chuck, I also had the GI Joe in a diving suit, although "8 ropes" doesn't sound familiar. I dont' recall the diver in the box either. My toy submarine was gray, but did the same thing. Maybe yellow was a more "peacetime" style.

Also recall the prop at DH. We visited QM several times. The prop exhibit shown here gave me vertigo, it didn't seem right to see something so big.

Major, I love QM and none of my pics survive, these went straight to my album, post as many as you like!

JG

Major Pepperidge said...

All you guys with your toy submarines! The only toy sub I had was from a cereal box, and those dumb tablets didn't seem to do a thing.

JG, what happened to your photos? You wouldn't throw them away, would you?

Chiana_Chat said...

Kate Winslet is missing out.

Anonymous said...

If you see Kate winslet give me a call!