The Queen Mary cruise ship was the flagship ocean liner for prominent ship owners Cunard from 1936 through to her retirement in 1967. She was replaced by the Queen Mary 2.
This ship was designed to be one of the ships to perform the twice-weekly express service for Cunard, sailing from Southampton to New York via Cherbourg, France. However, the Queen Mary was forced to serve as a troop transport ship during the Second World War and the service did not begin until the end of the war. This cruise ship did, however, undertake this route for twenty years alongside sister ship the Queen Elizabeth.
Following her retirement in 1967, she is now berthed in Long Beach, California, where she is used as a museum ship and hotel. The retired luxury cruise ship is now a popular destination for ghost hunters, as she is said to be the most haunted ocean liner in the world.
The name Mary is taken from Mary of Teck, the Queen Consort of King George V. However, the process was not a simple one. The ship was originally due to be named the "Victoria", due to a long Cunard tradition of naming ships with names that end in "ia". However, company representatives at the time asked King George V for permission to name the liner after the country's "greatest Queen". George V misunderstood this, and said he would be delighted to have the liner named after his own wife Mary - not the longest reigning British sovereign, Queen Victoria, as Cunard had meant! The story is something of a legend and is probably not true, but it is an interesting tale. The real reason for the Cunard policy of "ia" names is more likely to be due to it's merger with the White Star Line, who had a company policy of naming ships which "ic" ending names (such as the doomed Titanic and her sister ships the Olympic and Britannic), so a new naming system was designed for the new company.
This story is one of many in a difficult history for this criuse ship. After the naming ceremony, the Queen Mary was making her way down the slipway, but built up too much speed and almost overshot her stopping point in the Clyde, racing onward toward the opposite bank. Thankfully, disaster was averted by the drag chains, and the ship was able to take to the seas for her maiden voyage on May 27th 1936.
For her time, this cruise ship had a sumptuous interior and entertainments. The ship boasted an indoor swimming pool, salon, ship's library, children's nursery, ship's kennel and an outdoor paddle tennis court. The largest and most luxurious interior space was the Grand Salon - the dining room - which was two stories high, as was the indoor swimming pool.
During her 30 plus years aboard the waves, the cruise ship gained a fantastic reputation for elegance and speed. Her successor, the Queen Mary 2, carried on the tradition and fine reputation of the name and is now arguably the most sought-after ocean liner in the world.
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