As a young boy, aged 10, the arrival in 1969 of the luxury liner, Queen Elizabeth 2, in Southampton was a huge event and I'm pretty sure that my school took us to Western Shore on the edge of Southampton Water to see her first voyage. This was in the same way that they had taken us to the same beach to see the last voyages of both the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary.
Forty years on, last night the QE2, as she is affectionately known, sailed from Southampton for the last time. It is the end of an era as for most of my life the iconic funnel has been visible to all visitors to the docks and seeing her sailing in and out of the port has been a regular sight.
She left with a fitting tribute, accompanied by a flotilla of small craft, with a massive firework display and just in case there were a few people who were unaware of her departure earlier in the day as she arrived from a final cruise, she briefly ran aground!
She is replaced by two even bigger liners the "Queen Mary" and the "Queen Victoria" both mighty fine liners but not the QE2.
Her final resting place will be Dubai, where she will be turned into a floating hotel. Who knows maybe one day I'll get a chance to stay "on board".
1 comment:
Sad day for the city. My Dad took me to the arrival of this magnificent liner in 1969 and I was as enthralled as could be
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