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A transatlantic crossing on Queen Mary 2

Day One

Rising to the port of Southampton Mayflower Terminal and catch first glimpse of black and white helmet Queen Mary 2, the largest, longest, tallest, heaviest and most expensive ship ever constructed, evoked considerable excitement and wonder. a port coupled to 50 degrees, 54.25 'north latitude and 001 degrees, 25.70' west and facing a 116.4 degrees the direction, Leviathan 17-deck, with a length of 1132 meters in height and width of 148 feet, appears a gross weight of 151 400 tons and rose above buildings with front balcony-lined, eclipsing his height 236.2 meters high. His plans for expanding 33.10 meters under the water line. The metropolis floating with cabins, restaurants, shopping malls, libraries, theaters and planetariums, would bridge in six days, the European and North American continent, the equivalent in hours to the duration of the aerial crossing by 747-400, in itself, then the world's largest commercial airliner. But the ocean passage would civility refinement, rejuvenation, emotional reparation, and return to the slower but more elegant era of steamboat travel, a journey, it would soon discover, would lead to a search of the maritime history of the past that had created this technology.

Unlike the proliferation of modern cruise ships with its comparatively low speeds and greater volume, helmets square geometry, the Queen Mary 2 has been designed as a successor generation the Queen Elizabeth 2 years and as such, should provide the same throughout the year, passenger capacity-35, mainly in the Atlantic Northern rough, with a design to sacrifice the volume of production revenues and lower costs of building the traditional cruise ship security required, the speed and stability of the liner. resultantly, who had the feature of the same formation of V-shaped hull of the long line of his predecessors Cunard thicker steel construction that led to cost 40 percent higher than those of conventional cruise ships. Designed by Stephen Payne, whose inspiration for the arch had come from the Queen Elizabeth 2 and the wall of the brake of the Normandy, which was the first quadruple-screw North Atlantic liner from France in 1962. Payne himself, a naval architect born and raised in London, had been involved with the Carnival Holiday, Carnival Fantasy, and Rotterdam VI projects. The latter, which incorporates a modification Statendam helmet, had offered a less "square" hull form of the traditional cruise ship, but had yet withdrawn considerably from full-line design.

Designed for primary Southampton-New York route, joined dimensional restrictions issued by the United States port, including a tall funnel that cleared the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge by only three meters and a total length exceeding the spring of 1100 meters from the Port of New York by 34 feet.

Built by Alstom Chantiers de l'Atlantique in St. Nazaire, France, who had built the Normandie, and appointed G32 helmet for the shipyard, which had been the first ever Cunard Line built outside the United Kingdom and, as Concorde, the fastest in the world and so far only supersonic passenger jet, became the second British-French collaborative project of transport designed for transatlantic service, albeit through very different if not opposite modes.

Its interior offers space and unsurpassed comfort. Of the 17 decks, the first four were for machinery, storage and crew of 1,254 personnel, 13 were for 2,620 passengers and eight cabins contained balcony. Notable features include a Grand Lobby, Royal Court Theatre, Illuminations Theatre and Planetarium, connections to Internet Center, Queen Ballroom, winter garden, nine major restaurants, 11 bars and lounges, a library of 8,000 volumes and a library, a program of the University Oxford conference proceedings of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, five swimming pools, sports facilities, a Canyon Ranch Spa, a pavilion of shops and a nightclub. These appointments are my "home" for the next six days.

Symbolically reflected by his predecessor QE2 docked a lower considerable distance from the bow at the Queen Elizabeth 2 Terminal, the Queen Mary 2 is a gross and fold increase from two previous generations equivalent and, indeed, traced its lineage to a long road of Cunard ships, which had experienced a period of 165 years. Somehow the feeling that the imminent step not only would a trip away, but returns in time.

Gently vibrating in your spine, the giant was separated laterally by under his bunk below the metal roof in 1810, local time.

Unlike the propeller-shaft conventional engine technology generation older ships, the Queen Mary 2 was powered by four instead of aft lower hull mounted Rolls Royce Mermaid pods with electric motor, each weighing 260 tons and four fixed pitch, 9900 lbs, stainless steel blades, and collectively produce 115,328 horsepower. The front outboard pair is fixed and always propelled forward and aft, while the stern, inboard pair appears azimuth 360 degrees and the ability to provided both propulsion and steering obviating the need for the rudder. The advanced technology system reduces the complexity and weight and increasing the interior volume of the hull by removing equipment associated traditional engine settings.

Three of the Rolls Royce of a variable pitch propeller transverse bow thrusters, collectively producing 15 000 horses force, provided port and starboard bow maneuverability at speeds of up to five knots. At eight knots, when its effectiveness had been overcome, they were covered by 90 degrees rotation, the doors of fluid dynamic.

Led by a double shooting tugs spring water, the giant ocean liner began moving heavy bottom of the basin. Maintain an interest 11.5 knots in the Solent, which started turning to starboard to 140 degrees in Calshots Range in 1907, ready for similar maneuver in brambles.

Compressed dark gray, the sun cast its bright orange stripes to the outside through the thin strip on the horizon unobstructed Western. Assuming a heading of 220 degrees through the Thorn Channel, the Queen Mary 2 began its turn to starboard around the Isle of Wight.

The first dinner aboard the elegant, the triumph of maritime engineering had served in the 1351 seats, three stories high, two-level Britannia restaurant had offered a grand staircase, sweeping, column supports and a roof, backlit, stained glass ceiling and remembered and inspired by the dining room Large rooms 20th century French shirts, as the region of Ile-de-France, L'Atlantique, and the Normandie. The food in itself, presented in Wedgwood china and Waterford crystal, classified White Zinfandel wine, cream of mushroom soup mixed with parmesan croutons, crispy rolls and butter and oak leaf salad with shaved carrots Boston and sherry vinaigrette dressing, rack of pork with mushroom ragout, truffle mashed potatoes, morel sauce, and sauerkraut, hot apple strudel with brandy sauce and coffee.

The thin line of orange lights outline the coast same line astern. Maintaining a 27-knot speed and 250 degree heading, the rock-steady, the mass of 151 000 tons of engineering Plied the black channel and began his current circle maximum from the Rock Bishop of the Isles of Scilly. In front was the infinity of the Atlantic-and the path forged by each previous Cunard transatlantic liners. Tomorrow I would start tracing the historical.

Second day

Aurora received long as a tunnel lining of indistinguishable, wet gray. Enclosed in the dome of clouds over a bad mood and slate blue sea navy then he spit white caps newspapers, the ship channeled and black-red morning entered the saturated humidity, the sky emission rain and swirling, swirling sea merge and become perfect, the gusty wind and ships bombarded by soaking.

Any unwanted movement, however, was quickly and invisibly, dampened by the two pairs of 15.63 meters squared Brown Bros / Rolls Royce stabilizers fins, which were controlled by gyroscopic vertical reference tools and extended to about 15 feet from the ship's hull to counteract roll.

Immersion in meter-deep water 98 miles 348 nautical Ireland at noon, the Queen Mary 2 has traveled 418 miles since leaving Southampton yesterday.

Weather is intermittent light rain with a movement clockwise to the west, projected to fall to force 4. The present strength-5, breath of fresh air from the south along with an air temperature of 11.2 degrees centigrade, led to a 994-millibar pressure. The sea, with a moderate four of the state, maintains a temperature of 10 degrees Celsius.

afternoon tea, held in the Hall of the Queen, had been a British tradition and a delicious lunch intermittency between and dinner are provided in each intersection of Cunard, the last of which was personal travel eastbound 2002 at the Queen Elizabeth 2. Queen's Room itself, the largest ballroom at sea, there is an arched ceiling, double glass chandeliers, a curtain of blue velvet and gold on the stage the orchestra, dancefloor 1225 meters square, a harpist, and small, round tables for up to 562. Today's presentation included eggs, ham and cheese, cucumber, tomato, beef, seafood and finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, and strawberry cream pies.

afternoon tea in the sea could trace their lineage about 165 years ago. Einstein's theory of relativity somehow seemed to apply. Suspended between the continents, land mass and population, the boat seemed trapped in a vacuum, arrested a warp in which the story appeared and captured the ship reconnect with his past, and once more repeated, separation of the current ground and closer to her past in the sea. It is this suspension of time, distance and place the threads of the past has served as Cunard's momentum. A man, who had lived some 200 years, had made the trip possible today.

The man's name, of course, was the same as who starred in a long line of ever-advancing Atlantic Ocean liners, Samuel Cunard. Born November 21, 1787 in Halifax, Nova Scotia as the son of Abraham Cunard, who was also a carpenter in the Royal Navy Yard in Halifax, had forged a maritime link with the physical entry into the world. His initial work company, had forced Royal Mail contract award electron transport through Boston-Halifax-St. Juan route after the cessation of the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States while later involved in the proposed steam powered ship for the first crossings of the Atlantic. Named the Royal William, 160 meters long, 1,370 ton ship was launched into service in August 1931 between Quebec and Halifax, which requires 6.5 days for the trip.

The company that had raised their fame in the end, however, came at the end of the decade when the British government had announced its intention to subsidize the steam mail service between England and the United States. In a formal proposal to meet the requirement, submitted on February 11, 1839, Cunard describes a service every two months, steam between England and Halifax ships operated by 300 horsepower make 48 crossings a year. awarded a contract by the Admiralty in June by four of 206 meters long, 400 horsepower and 1,120 tons of ships will ultimately be determined by the Acadia, Caledonia, Columbia and Britannia, which finalized plans to serve the Halifax-Boston-Liverpool route.

The latter ship, the Britannia, had really been the first to be completed. The 207-feet long, throughout the hybrid power is dispatched 34 feet, built of oak and yellow pine Africa Robert Duncan at the shipyard on the River Clyde in Scotland, had offered a clipper bow, three masts with square yards, situated half and two ships, paddle boxes black and gold that stretched nearly 12 meters on each side and contained nine meters wide, 28 foot diameter blades rotating at 16 revolutions per minute and operating out of a 403-hp, two cylinder, side lever steam engine that burned 40 tons of coal a day full as a single stack, smoke aft. The engine, which requires 70 feet hull for installation, said coal from a bunker of 640 tons.

Of the four decks, the upper or main deck, the master appears and CEO of cabins, pantry, kitchen, dining room officers, the cabin crew, lifted, exposed bridge, and the dining room, which at 36 feet long and 14 feet, was the largest room locked on the ship. Two stern circular stairs to the dining room connected to the second deck, which housed the knights and ladies' cabins, each with two bunk beds, sink, mirror, sofa days, and a port hole or an oil lamp, with facilities shared bathroom, which equals a capacity of 124 persons, of whom 24 were women. The cargo hold, located on each side of the engine and other lower level capacity of 225 tonnes, together with the sail locker, mail room, shops, Butler barrios, and the aft hold. Coal had been stored in the fourth, or the lower deck.

The 1154 tonnes Britannia, opened in the service scheduled for July 4, 1840 from Liverpool to Boston with an intermediate stop in Halifax, operated the world's first transatlantic steam vessel service, carrying 63 passengers and taking 12 days, ten hours to cross 2534 miles nautical speed of 8.5 knots, one third of the movement of pure sailing. After eight hours a suspension of the port of Halifax, Boston followed in another 46 hours.

To 05 January 1841, four vessels had entered the Cunard fleet.

Britannia himself made 40 round trips before being sold to the Marina of Prussia it had become a pure vessel used for navigation purposes destination and changed the name Barbarossa. was ultimately sunk in 1880. Nevertheless, it paved the way for a long line of Cunard liners come.

Bit in the anger, dark blue, white North Atlantic that spits a limit in 272-degrees in heading 1545, with his outgoing, bulbous bow, the mighty Queen Mary 2 launched engineering triumph on its axis at a speed of 23.4 knots, the sun's rays are powerful enough to rip the fabric of clouds in a unique mosaic swollen, white aerial island. The ship had reached a 50-degree 12.036 'north latitude and 14 degrees, "26.312' west longitude coordinate.

dinner that night, served in the Britannia restaurant, had included Merlot wine, smoked halibut mousse and prawns with potato salad, Lollo Rosso and apple salad with walnuts and sweet cider vinaigrette, filet mignon and lobster tail with potatoes roasted young polenta cake and asparagus in hollandaise sauce, banana chocolate cake with mango sauce, coffee and petit fours.

The Britannia as a ship design, was only the beginning, and pale compared to the Leviathan Cunard vessels produced in the 20th century.

Day Three

Tues continuously rolled significant swells, the Queen Mary 2 was launched through the dark, star night bright blue at its center of gravity as a rocker, her bow wave hitting the gutter and projecting mountain avalanche white reactions to 45 degrees from your line central.

Breakfast, lunch at the king's court with multiple stations, had included a ham and pepper omelet, bacon, potatoes hashbrowned, a tomato grilled white toast and cranberry juice.

Negotiating 25 - to 30-foot sea on the mid-Atlantic ridge, which covers the continental divide the ship had sailed 590 miles nautical in the period of 24 hours from 1200 noon yesterday, is now pursuing a 263-degree heading, 2075 miles remaining until the pilot station in New York.

Light rain is forecast to dissipate, with gradual clearing. The force of the wind-5, the northwest, there had been nine degrees Celsius temperature, with a pressure of 996.5 millibars. The sea, whose status had been a moderate "4", held a temperature of 12 degrees.

Looking towards infinity of the Atlantic, I could not help but think that somewhere out there, if not in physical space, then in historical time, was the first of the great "Cunard liners of the Atlantic that had probably been there during the early 20th century.

The design, the Lusitania, had its origins from 1902, when JP Morgan has tried to create a conglomerate called steam International Merchant Marine through the purchase of several existing businesses, including the White Star Line. In order to ensure the continued independence and deter its Cunard absorption within the company in constant expansion, the British Parliament had granted a 20-year contract and grant to build two of the world then largest and fastest liners and in the process of retrieving the speed record that the Germans had captured three of its twin-screw ships.

Cunard, deals in search of the two ships of four yards, you specify a length of 750 meters, a width of 76 meters and a capacity of 59,000 horsepower achieved by the reciprocating engines to tighten screws triples. The contract, awarded to John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland, resulted in a 790-foott length and a width of 88 feet, eclipsing The gross weight of 30,000 tonnes 2,500 tonnes for the first time, and using the turbine engine technology, for the first time, with a combined capacity of 68,000 horsepower, exhausted, in an effort to emulate the Germans, through four chimneys.

The construction, from the fall of 1904, produced two of the largest, fastest and most powerful ever built designs liners with long, straight, straight downwind, bridges and four funnels rounded Sports raked 787-feet lengths, widths of 87 meters and 31 550 tonnes gross weight powered by steam turbines aimed at quadrupling the screws.

Capable for 563 first class passengers amidships, 464 second class passengers aft, and the third 1138, or third class, class passengers in the front of hull, first of two new shirts featured opulent appointments. A Georgian style lounge wearing light green color, a marble fireplace, stained glass panels and a dome 20 meters. The Veranda Café had lattice wall patterns and rattan furniture. The dining room, double deck configuration, had been the first of its kind on a Cunard ship. In the main hall had been decorated with mahogany paneling, while the smoking room appears dark Italian walnut. The living room second-class dining room also sported appointments of Georgia and the room was decorated in Louis XVI style. With the power for the first time, the Lusitania provide modern facilities for its passengers, including two elevators.

In his second crossing to the west, the lining to beat all records speed, averaging 23.993 knots and covers a 617-mile distance a single day, but ultimately broke the mark of 26 knots and arrive in New York four days, 20 hours.

His fate, however, was not to remain so successful. Leaving England in his 202nd trip May 1, 1915 to 1257 passengers, 702 crew and three stowaways, the ship had approached Britain, sailing ten miles off the Old Head of Kinsale when struck by a torpedo from the German side, ready to forward and to starboard. oceanward slip in a 45 degree arc angle first, bottomed out 18 minutes later, exploding and killing 1201 on board, result of a deliberate act of war.

Because there is an outcrop of land is seen during the six-day crossing of the Atlantic, the Queen Mary 2 seemed suspended in the void between two continents, the journey on the course, speed, time, sea state, distance, and the inner life, the storm, if While civilization in constant motion over the sea.

Soldiers in the boat burned 3.1 tons of heavy fuel oil per hour at a load of 100 percent for operating diesel engines, or 261 tonnes per day at a speed of 29 knots of steam, whereas it used six tons of marine gas oil per hour to run their gas turbines or 237 tonnes per day, drawing from a tank of 1,412,977 liters and the United States for the first and a 966.553 gallon tank for the second.

Your source of fresh water produced from seawater by three Alfa Laval Multi Effect Evaporators Plate, are replenished at a rate of 630 tonnes per day, satisfying your daily intake of 1,100 tons. The capacity of the potable water tank came to 1,011,779 U.S. gallons.

A German-style lunch is served in the King's Court, had included sausages, sauerkraut bacon, spaetzel cheese, baked potatoes, scallops, and black forest cake.

The maintenance of a 261-degree heading and a speed of 23.1 knots of steam, city in the sea had reached a 49-degree 43.705 'north latitude and 28 degrees, "25.458' west longitude by the position 1500.

The Queen Mary 2, Winter Garden, designed after the cafes of the gallery skylight, Mauritania, had offered a 25-60 per-foot trompe l' oeil ceiling, which represents a lush, green gardens, paneled walls looking through iron gates of hills, and wicker furniture, and had been created to counter the cold, gray and stormy winter in the North Atlantic.

Mauritania itself, the ship that had provided Garden Winter inspiration, was the second of two early-20th century designs Cunard after the Lusitania. The nine-line coated, with capacity for 563 passengers in 253 cabins first class, 464 second class passengers in 133 cabins and 1138 third class passengers in 278 cabins, offered his own wealth appointments. Classroom to smoke, for example, located in the stern, had offered the polished wood paneling and friezes of the drywall. The lounge, located on the boat deck and measuring 80 by 53 meters, was decorated with mahogany paneling, gold trim, the long roof beams, gilded bronze and crystal chandeliers. The library, with windows views, had been decorated with panels of sycamore. The classroom first restaurant, seating 330, had been set with long tables, chairs and white dress swivel, and was decorated with polished ash, teak panels and shaped, and arched windows, while the second class dining room with parquet flooring, panels made Georgian oak and carved cornices. A grand staircase, installed between the second and third funnels, five decks connected to public halls.

Entered service on November 16, 1907 between Liverpool and New York, Mauritania had been enhanced with four-bladed propellers two years later, in 1909, when the that he could reach a top speed of 26.6 knots. There was only the first of several modifications. With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, for example, Gray had been repainted and briefly served as a troopship, and again reliveried commercial service five years later, in 1919, when operating in the company Aquitaine and Berengaria, weekly offering from east to west and service in the Southampton-New York route. It remained the fastest of the three.

However, other changes required by the fire, resulted in the conversion to the technology of combustion engine oil and reconfiguration cabin, which reduces both the ability of second and third class passengers.

In its 27 years of operation, during which 22 had held in the North Atlantic speed record until he was captured by the Bremen in 1929, the Mauretania sailed around 2.1 million miles of the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Caribbean and service before being usurped by two larger, more advanced Cunard liners. Making its junction last modified on September 26, 1934, scraped the next year in Scotland.

That night for dinner, served in the Queen Mary 2 Britannia Restaurant, had offered white zinfandel wine, shrimp Thermidor baby brioche walnut, corn salad with smoked chicken and bleu cheese dressing, grilled sea bass with Mediterranean vegetables and olive tapenade; flambee bananas foster with rum raisin ice cream and whipped cream and coffee.

The Lusitania and Mauritania replacements although larger, would be a motley pair: although one had been the third in the series, has been slower, while the other had been transferred from the fleet the enemy, the Germans.

Day Four

Hanging in the middle of the Atlantic, the black hull Leviathan pursed his Great Circle in a course of 249-degree heading, eating the fluffy gray and white ocean with his bow-with an appetite 21.7 knots. Four hundred seventy miles off the coast of Newfoundland, the ship traded water 3549 meters deep, having traveled 607 miles nautical in the period of 24 hours since yesterday, now 1615 miles of Southampton. In a stream of 47 degrees, 34.066 'to north latitude and 042 degrees-position 00.754 "W is 1468 miles from its destination.

External conditions were mild: the temperature air at 14 degrees Celsius, had joined a force-four moderate winds from the southwest and low level cloud, with a 989-mbar air pressure. The sea, whose state had been slight, had a temperature of 12.7 degrees Celsius.

If the triplet of the first Cunard liners of the 20th century could have sailed past the Queen Mary 2 in chronological order, the Aquitania had dragged both the Lusitania and Mauritania, the third long smooth, four-funneled ships built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank.

The ship 45,647 tons, a length of 901 meters and a width of 97-feet, had been such that it is larger and heavier than its two predecessors, at a capacity of 3,200 passengers. Released on April 21, 1913, has begun rehearsals for 13 months reaching a maximum speed of 24 knots, and entered commercial service on May 30, 1914 en route from Liverpool to New York.

Luxurious rooms and equipped, which included a long passage leading from the main room with the smoking room decorated with a series of garden rooms, carpeted restaurant, Louis XVI style first class, a hall with columns of Palladio, which lasted for two decks and the pool first installed on a Cunard ship.

Late to the North Atlantic, Aquitania had sailed on the periphery of the First World War and had been requisitioned by the government for military service as an armed merchant cruiser in August 1914, but due to its excessive size, had been resumed service as a troop ship next year. reconfigured for transatlantic service after of war, the ship resumed its civilian role in August 1920, amending its capacity six years later, in 1916, when a major reconfiguration decreased first-class passenger 618-610 complement the increased capacity of 614-950 second class and third class drastically reduced complement each three quarters of 1998 to 640, more accurately match class passenger demand.

Once a person reconfigured for troop ship 7724 during the Second World War, Aquitaine provided eight years of military service during which he had sailed 500,000 miles and transported more than 300,000 soldiers.

On arriving at Southampton on 01 December 1949, the multiple-role vessel ended 35 years of service, having sailed about 3 million miles in 443 trips. Design had been the last four Cunard channeled.

Lunch, back in this at the Queen Mary 2, had served in the grill, itself one of the stations of King's Court, and included beef Tikka Masala, rice, cauliflower with cheese sauce and double chocolate fudge cake.

Although long, the Aquitaine> Multi-paper and very fruitful career had ended in 1949, had, for the most part, continued to operate in tandem, as originally conceived, with two other Cunard liners, despite the Lusitania had been destroyed almost immediately after entering service. The third ship, however, not from a plan Cunard gave his life for a shipbuilder on the Clyde, but by the enemy that had much needed replacement.

Efforts made to compete with the Cunard and White Star Line designs which now regularly plied the Atlantic, the Hamburg-America Line have established the keel of a new generation of ocean liners on 18 June 1910, aims to be the greater capacity, higher gross weight passenger ship ever built. The specifications were for the time, staggering: measuring 919 feet long and 98 feet, the long, tri-channel 52 117 tons of the ship, named "Imperator, had been powered by steam shovels oriented propellers of four feeding of 8,500 tons of coal feeds two 69 - and 95 engine room meters long, respectively. With capacity for 908 first class, 972 second class, 942 third class and 1772 class passengers on the bow, the giant, led by a steering 90 tons, was launched on May 23, 1912 and entered commercial service 13 months later, on June 10, Cuxhaven to New York with an intermediate stop at Southampton.

The Imperator receive a first class winter garden with potted palms and a dual indoor pool deck.

Because the initial service was demonstrated senior position, three chimneys were shortened by nine feet for a fall of adaptation.

Ultimately banned navigation because of the First World War German atrocities, the ship was docked in Hamburg for four years before a war reparation agreement led to their transfer to Cunard in 1919 as compensation for the Germans sank the Lusitania. exceeded in Southampton two years later, in April 1921, had subjected to an initial conversion technology that its coal combustion engine has been replaced by oil, which had been reconfigured with 972, 630, 606, and 515 first, second, third, and tourist passengers, respectively. Redesignated Berengaria, the ship joined the Mauritania and Aquitaine Cunard liner service operating weekly. Although originally planned to continue operating until 1940, his old-fashioned wiring system, which resulted in persistent Fire on board, had prevented its longevity anticipated service, temporarily leaving only Mauritania and Aquitaine until a new type of Cunard liners, which offer twice the tonnage of the existing designs, could come into operation. That the ship, of course, bore the name of the current: Queen Mary.

Dinner, served at La Piazza Restaurant on board the (current) Queen Mary 2, had included a mixed green salad with ranch dressing, artichoke hearts, vegetable moussaka, pasta with onions, mushrooms, black olives, garlic, tomato sauce, tiramisu, and coffee.

Dusk could be accurately gauged by looking beyond the wooden deck with Queen Mary I, "recalls loungers line and down towards the sea, rather of the sky. The first, a reflection of the latter, had turned a deep blue, reflecting the temporal sky brightness during the late afternoon when the cluster white mountain formations had separated, creating a rift blue. Then, quickly became a dark blue and, momentarily, a moody cold, gray winter, the prevailing conditions of the environment of many transatlantic crossings before, like the dark, rolling clouds reassembled in a quilt tight, cohesive, making it difficult for even a momentary glimpse of the sun. The merger of dimensions with the ocean, the gap amorphous referenceless Cacoon the floating city until visibility did not extend beyond ten feet from any side. Two souls, well dressed, defied the strong winds, blustering in his attempt, supported by force, to surround the deck. Such was life on a transatlantic crossing.

As the days surrounding the demarcation line at midnight, the ship crossed the basin of Newfoundland to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and, indeed, reached the North American continent. Two days remained before steam coming to an end, the Port of New York.

Day Five

Fight fierce currents of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, in 0800, the Titan thundered long barreling gray surface, its peaks so high and frequently appeared in white crests of the mountains covered with snow. The field was tumultuous and implacable. Propelled at 24 knots, the ship moved between channels, rotating around its center of gravity and pinnacling each peak with the overcoming of triumph, before exploding in the valley next to the gravity-induced momentum, its rotation axis sliding down the mountain airborne sea part time when even the stabilizers were not enough to stop them down momentarily Mar-attached profile.

the perception of speed is a function of distance: the lower down the vessel in relation with the water line, the faster the gray surface did seem to move from the outside, its cascades of white foam and mist operate directly on the windows and eyes ox.

Death at sea, although in this language even beyond conception, had fallen short my journey into a mysterious Agatha Christie murder. Before I retired to my room the previous night, a passenger, whose name I forget for a moment, had been continuously paginated, both in theater and throughout the ship, with an increasing degree of urgency. During the early hours of the morning, the shirt, then inexplicable reason, had become, chasing a title that would have brought back to the UK. It was later revealed that a man in Germany who had been traveling with a group, had for some time to contact them, and his wife, who had not made the trip with him, had been contacted in Germany, where ultimately found a suicide note. The man, who was very old and sick, apparently, had to cross the circle to take his own life, and the ship was the area of suicide until an time beyond that would have succumbed to hypothermia, even if he survived the fall of the sea.

The incident, which transcends immediate hesitation Initial between two strangers, had been the talk of formal breakfast served in the Britannia restaurant in the morning.

The area chosen in the great circle route in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, could not be more dangerous and each line Cunard predecessor had traced his way through it.

Glaciers descend from the Greenland's west coast mountains calved with thunderous roars in the Davis Strait, forming icebergs carried south by the Labrador Current, about 400 of which rising 150 feet above the water line and weighing over 100,000 tons, move as far south as the shipping lanes off Newfoundland. During the period a period from April to July, the area outside of San Juan is known as "iceberg alley." Given the size of smaller icebergs and their associated field ice, are particularly difficult to locate, which represents a significant risk to the company with a transatlantic ship crossing during this time and win justice the area the title of "North Atlantic graveyard."

Further exacerbating the conditions had been substreams water temperature differential, which originate along the continental margin of South America near Ecuador, where trade winds are driven toward the channel between Cuba and the Florida Keys. Accelerate followed by 30 - to the east coast 50 miles wide at 2 - at speeds of 6 km / h towards the coast of North Carolina where the substreams real form, which flows into Nova Scotia in a 150-million-rate cubic meters per second.

It is in the great circle route, east of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, the clash between the warm Gulf Stream and the current cold Labrador takes place, producing different temperatures which in turn create rain, storms, clouds, fog, the tumultuous waves, hurricanes, winter, and cyclones. off the southeastern tip of Newfoundland, Cape Race, the summer sea mist, sometimes lasting for weeks, icebergs shrouds of visual perception.

Oblivious to these conditions, the 151 400 tonnes, the Queen Mary 2 negotiated their way through their pods and bow thrusters, that electricity had been supplied by a common, high switchboard mainstream, which resulted in a 11 000 volt 60-hertz, 3-stage. The same course have been supplied by four Wartsila W46 V1646C, 16.8 MW diesel generators and two 25.0-MW General Electric LM2500 + gas turbines.

intrigues of the morning, Once digested and discussed, allowing greater attention to the abundant breakfast served in the Britannia restaurant, which has included grapefruit juice, poached eggs, crispy bacon, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, fried potatoes, toast, croissants, French bread, butter, coffee, cakes and peach.

By late morning, the shirt long, majestic, red and black-channeled, the lineage of 165 years for the boat he had given his name massive restaurant, carved his trench under bright blue skies in the self-reflecting the deep blue sea, leaving a trail of snow white astern, going back to the countless crosses all Cunard liners, who had preceded it.

If the Berengaria had been "enormous," no adjective can describe the size of its replacement, which emerged an original project and not an existing hull. The ship, which had been a Cunard design pure and original, has not only launched a new type of shirts, but a period completely new known as the "era of the four queens." The design, of course, was the first to bear the name of the current ship, the Queen Mary.

The incorporation of technological advances 86 years of maritime design Cunard's new flagship, which dates back to 1926, when a substitute for Mauritania was first envisaged, was conceived as the first of two feet long, 1,000 shirts that would be fast enough to allow the crossing of five calendar days and therefore obviate the need for the Lusitania /-Mauritania-Aquitaine Berengaria trio. Although the keel had been laid down first on January 31, 1931 to a ship hull then designated 534 in the yard John Brown and Company in Clyde, depression halted its construction a year later, on April 3, 1934, intermittent allowing Normandie to take the title as both the first 1000 footer and the first line + 60,000-ton, as the current fastest across the Atlantic, deserved ribband the Riviera. During December last year, it was announced that would merge with Cunard White Star Line, Cunard White Star Limited, forming the first of them designated all its vessels of the other things "termination" and the latter who have used ic "ending" as in "Titanic." The name "Queen Mary" would be the first to eliminate both.

Launched on September 26, 1934, the sleek, elongated line, three-channeled to sea, with a length of 1018 meters and 118 meters wide, had offered a gross weight of 80 774 tonnes and was powered by four steam turbines quadruple expansion connected through the propeller shafts, and four outdoor, 35 tons of manganese bronze, four-bladed propellers arranged in pairs.

Facilities elegant interior presence of more than 50 varieties of wood, such as the English yew tree, bird eye maple, sycamore ivory white, Pacific myrtle, cherry Africa, and pear. The ship Sun Deck, sporting an open-access walk all 24 lifeboats, ended in the small and intimate Veranda Grill, which offers an alternative, a la carte menu and dining experience overlooking the stern. The tour enclosed deck, located immediately below, shows the main public rooms, including a front window glazing 21 observation lounge and cocktail bar directly under the bridge, one study, reading room, writing room and library on the port side, and a drawing room, a second room, games room and children in the starboard side. The main lobby, behind, spread the width of the nave and was visited by the glass doors on each side of the promenade and configured with a shopping arcade.

The travel agency and suites is a lower deck, main deck, while A through H were set even lower decks in the hull, and is accessed by corridors paneled empire.

The living room dining room, is 160 feet long and 118 feet wide and 800 seats, was on C deck and had a high ceiling, columns, and one by-13-24 foot mural of the Atlantic Ocean with a glass of crystal, electronically operated model of Mary, Queen to indicate its position in the transatlantic journey. The cabin class swimming pool, located on the deck D, had highlighted the gold quartzite, and a corridor on foot led the crew accommodation, workshops, and warehouses.

Opened in service on May 27, 1936, on the Cherbourg-Southampton-New York route, the Queen Mary regained Normandie Blue ribband three months later in a cross from the west, reaching 30.63 knots between Ambrose and Bishop Rock Light, making it the fastest, largest, and heavier until the line of the superclass title had been passed by his transatlantic counterpart, the Queen Elizabeth. Although he had carried 56 895 passengers during its first year of service, the storm clouds of World War II thwarted further develop its civilian activities, the latest which, of Southampton, had occurred on August 30, 1939.

Repainting, the now gray, military version, unofficially dubbed the "Phantom Gray, sailed from New York to Australia to play its role as a troop ship, maintaining the transatlantic ferry service in 1943, in July that The record had been a 16 683 troops in a single voyage.

Unarmed military service on September 27, 1946, and returned to Cunard, the ship had been reconfigured as a passenger ship with accommodation for 711 first cabin, 707, and 577 guests in tourist class, the resumption of regular weekly transatlantic service July 31, 1947 between Southampton and New York, with Queen Elizabeth.

Not usurped by one or more nautical advanced new design, but by a aircraft once, the Queen Mary, recording dwindling passenger loads and revenues plummeting, operated its last service scheduled New York on September 22, 1967, having made crosses 1001, during which time he had sailed 3.7 million miles, it had carried 2.1 million passengers, and had won $ 600 million in revenue.

His last operation in history occurred a year later, on October 31, when he embarked on a journey of 39 days 1040 Southampton repositioning of passengers around the southern tip of South America to its new and permanent in Long Beach, California, where mooring assumed his role as a hotel and tourist attraction.

Sailing 140 nautical miles on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, in 1200 the south, the present Queen Mary 2 follow a heading of 250 degrees and a speed of 24 knots steam, had been placed 115 miles south-southeast of Cape Race, having covered a measly 431 miles from the report position rescue attempt yesterday morning. Negotiation with rough seas amid moderate cold wave, three degrees Celsius temperature, the ship had traveled 2046 miles since its release, with the remaining 1040 Pilot Station New York.

Queen Elizabeth, the second of two designs for Cunard weekly, bi-directional trans-Atlantic service, completed the world's most famous couple of the Atlantic, but, contrary to initial belief was not a sister was identical to that of Queen Mary, but a fully independent design, sports, for example, only two to four funnels and 12 versus 24 boilers. Her keel, first established on December 4, 1936 in Clydebank, resulted in a construction period of almost two years, so the initial release and appoint the September 27, 1938. weight of only 40,000 tonnes at the time, the 1031 meters long, the ship 118 feet wide with a draft of 38 feet, had been transferred to wharf. However, the Queen Elizabeth, like her sister, immediately fell victim to the war and after order by Winston Churchill had been sent to New York, departing on February 6, 1940 and berthing, still inept and plumbing only essential, next to Queen Mary more than one months later.

After a month of moorings eight years, during which time he had become a warship, had left the Queen Elizabeth Singapore and ultimately transfers troops operated weekly between New York and transatlantic Gourack, Scotland, carrying up to 15,000 soldiers who slept in levels canvas bunks in two daily shifts.

Back in Southampton on June 16, 1946, the troopship 83 673 tonnes, had been converted into a luxury cruise with capacity for 823 first, 662 cabin and 798 tourist class passengers, and operated its first scheduled civil service four months later, on 16 October. Although Queen Elizabeth had been almost as popular as the Queen Mary counterpart, with most passengers in a cross in a direction and the other in the other direction, the pendulum of traffic had begun to swing toward the British and U.S. transatlantic airliners, with losses money first being recorded in the early 1960s until the economic reality could no longer maintain continuous service. its last operating junction time in October 1968, Queen Elizabeth had served briefly as a hotel and a museum in Port Everglades, Florida, but the financial burden and the rapid drop end to the company, being sold to CY Tung, a Taiwanese shipping tycoon, who invested $ 6 million in its conversion into a floating university. The fire, whose origin could not be reached, erupted on January 9 and 10, 1972, while the ship had been at the port of Hong Kong and excessive demand for water only resulted in his fall and final roll.

However, the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth would be the most famous Cunard tracers lines have sailed.

Dinner was served at the Queen Mary 2 is Todd English Restaurant, a small 156-seat, in one place reserves located in the stern, which dated back to the days of the original Queen Mary Veranda Grill. The Mediterranean-inspired cuisine was included Riesling white wine, lobster and corn soup with baby whipped parsnip, black truffles, and potatoes, asparagus tart with caramelized onions, Fontana cheese, butter Black Morel vinaigrette, rack of lamb shank confit crepenette, various salads roasted red peppers, chickpeas, cucumbers and yogurt and rouille with black olive sauce; hot cake, molten chocolate surrounded by raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream and coffee.

Night normally covered her veil over the day, reducing and ultimately analysis, the eradication of all light. With the cover persistent, relentless cloud of winter North Atlantic, however, no light or color marks the transition day. Instead, like a light switch flipped, the transformation was little more than an outcome long gray to black, the external environment that reference horizontal To change the tone. Like a drop curtain, the day seemed symbolic of the curtain finally fell on the golden age of ocean liners ...

As the calendar day eclipsed the other, the Queen Mary 2, is a heating degree-249 and a knot of speed steam-25.06, now southeast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

Six Days

Shrouded in fog during the night and continuously running through the darkness that surrounds with its horn sad, the lining powerful internal configured as a city at sea with nearly 4,000 people, broke into the vacuum of the fog in which neither light nor external reference was in sight. 150,000 tons giant, swallowed by the elements, paradoxically, had been reduced to an infinitesimal speck, but as we approached a little more to the continent of North America.

Maintaining a heading of 250 degrees in a sea 210 miles nautical light east of Cape Cod and a knot of steam Speed 26-in 1200 noon, the Queen Mary 2 sailed 648 miles from its position report 24 hours ago, now 2694 miles from Southampton with a remaining gap of 388 miles to New York station pilot.

Lunch served at Restaurant Lotus station King's Court, had including chicken, scallions and vegetables, basmati rice, soba noodles with scallions and light peanut satay and rice, fried egg and chocolate, graham cracker crust places.

In 1500, the cold front had, in ernest, it happened. The heavens, to unravel remarkably brilliant blue, did not leave a cloud of vapor and temperature 11 degrees. The sea, a bright blue, deep, canyon-lined apartment on the ship by the starboard side, inducing a rhythmic call, which even stabilizers fully extended could not stop. Pursuing a course of 253-degrees and a speed of 24 knots, the ship, now at the outer perimeter of the Gulf of Maine, had arrived one of 40 degrees, 44.853 'north latitude and 068 degrees, 11.27' west longitude position, the final unwinding have, like a clock, its 001-degree Southampton coordinate. Only a few degrees of longitude remaining until the ship arrived at Ambrose Light.

If the ship far to the east of Connecticut, the crossing of the Atlantic suspension between continents, and a return to the opulent and elegant lifestyle Golden Age of transatlantic was quickly end.

The speed and feed the latest technological liners, such as France, USA, and Rotterdam, along with changes in travel patterns, ultimately usurped the most famous pair of Queens ever to cross the sea, resulting in both Cunard and replacement serious consideration to whether a replacement shall be designed at all.

His successor, a modernized version of Queen Elizabeth appointed to the Q3, there is a length of 990 feet, capacity for 2270 passengers and a gross ton-75000, as detailed by June 1, 1960 the design plans. Their engines, largely based on the original Queen Elizabeth and the generation of between 85,000 and 95,000 shaft horsepower to enable speed of 28.5 knots, was configured with two six-bladed, 31.75 tons, propellers of 19-feet in diameter, each driven by a separate set of turbines, while two sets of double reduction geared turbines is supplied with steam from three boilers of 278-ton high-pressure water pipe producing 850 pounds per square inch of pressure at temperatures to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

An examination of trans-Atlantic load factors, however, seriously questioned the economic viability of the design. During 1957, for example, the proportion of laid-air traffic had been 50:50, while eight years later, in 1965, only 14 of every 100 passengers actually crossed by sea. You can not, therefore, to justify the size and cost of the original version, a small design, designated the Q4, had announced on October 19, 1961. With a reduced weight, 55 000 gross tons, the ship, small enough to negotiate all existing watercourses, including the Panama and Suez canals, and versatile enough to assume the dual role of the Atlantic liner and cruise ship was designed as a floating resort, a destination in itself, thus introducing a new concept of travel by sea. The contract, awarded to John Brown and Company of Clydebank due to low construction cost and the date of premature delivery, is was signed on December 30, 1964.

Her keel was first laid down the following year, on 2 July in the same dock that had been incubated on Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth and the ship, called the Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2 was launched on 20 September 1967. Because the fate that had befallen his predecessors, namely: the sublimation of the Queen Mary in a hotel and a museum and the purchase of France and the United States by Norwegian Cruise Line for the operation such as cruise, which was then considered the last great ocean transatlantic line to have been built.

The production of 50,000 horsepower less than the Queen Elizabeth and operating substituted out of two instead of four helices, the QE2, however, reached 29.5 knots on their initial tours of the Scottish coast.

The 12 with cover, 70 327 tons of ships, constructed of steel and sporting a 1/8-inch-thick lay a single funnel, 963 feet long and had been delivered to Cunard on 20 April 1969 at a cost of 29 million pounds. Opened in scheduled, the passenger service the following month, on May 2, between Southampton and New York with a port intermediate stop in Le Havre, the Queens quartet's third eventually completed their journey in four days, 16 hours, 35 minutes at an average speed of 28.02 knots, taking 1,400 passengers.

Although the type enjoyed 17 years of successful service, its steam turbine engines, which had been essentially the same kind of been turned the original Britannia 1840, had burned about 200 tons of fuel per day and is increasingly cost-and maintenance-intensive. operating her last transatlantic crossing from New York on October 20, 1986, was withdrawn from service for conversion to diesel engine technology.

A 180 000 000 pounds contract, signed with Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven, Germany, involved the conversion of all public rooms, passenger cabins and crew accommodation and the installation of nine 9-cylinder MAN-B & W medium speed of 220 tons of diesel engine production 14 242 10 625 kW or 400 bhp rpm four of which were installed in the engine room forward, five of which were installed in the engine room aft on anti-vibration mounts. engines propulsion, each weighing 295 tonnes and the production of 44 MW of power at 144 rpm, were connected by shafts 250 feet long, with two of 22 feet, a variable pitch five blades, which spins out of 19 meters in diameter, the propeller 42 tons, which were controllable from either the bridge or engine room. Two of four blades, variable pitch bow thrusters 6.55 meters in diameter, 18 feet installed in the tunnels of self-contained that passed through the hull side 18 feet below the water line, were driven by an electric motor 1000 hp and semi-hidden behind hydraulic, hydrodynamic doors when not in use. 12 to 4 meters long, 70-feet square, extending backward drive hydraulic outriggers stored behind double-hull hole side, while management was performed with a single, 75-ton, semi-balanced rudder.

The Queen Elizabeth 2, which 179 days required for the conversion, had been re-delivered to Cunard on April 25, 1987 and continues layered oceans of the world 36 years after it entered the first service on the transatlantic route replaced only by the ship on which sailed today.

In fact, the current Queen Mary 2 has was the culmination of technical maritime development that had begun with packages wooden-hulled sailing 19th century. They had built wooden later vane, reciprocating steam engines. Hierro, replacing wood as the main hull construction, has enhanced the strengths of proportions significant, thus paving the way for large designs with heavier crude and a growing number of decks. The major reasons of length and width, together with the propulsion of the propeller, reducing water resistance and high rates of steam, whereas the compound steam engines, two screws, and material construction steel steam pinnacle ocean technology in 1895. turbine engines, computer-aided design, global positioning systems, azipods, and turbines gas, together in a unique design, which could be collectively classed ships, transportation, machinery, building, and the floating metropolis with such opulent interior appointments and offers installation of such magnitude that any connection with the sea had been completely severed in a pleasant disorientation when one boarded the vessel.

Technological advancement, however, had not been arrested with a marine design, but has perpetuated throughout all forms transport other: the transatlantic crossing, for example, had required six days by sea, but only six hours by air subsonic and supersonic three by air. Speed had been proportionately greater, the time had been reduced, and the land was in the process, has been artificially reduced. But courtesy had also lost ...

Only a few hours remained in which to enjoy it before the Port of New York stood in front.

The last dinner at sea, served in the Britannia restaurant, had included Pinot Grigio white wine, smoked trout mousse, salad Waldorff, crème fraiche and chives; soup roasted tomato basil cream sauce, roasted Vermont turkey, whipped root vegetables, and Madeira reduction cranberry amaretto hazelnut pudding with sauce anglaise, and coffee.

Angled toward the boat forward, starboard side lay the path illuminated, as a threshold of broken glass through the surface of obstruction ocean, the sun cylindrical, which had begun its descent toward the western horizon preventive evening, a path, perhaps, at night, the Port New York, and the symbolic crossing of the ending-a sunset until the end of the transatlantic passage, which now could only be singularly revived on board the Queen Mary 2. settling toward the horizon, was issued an orange glow pronounced and rendered the sea a blue and icy reflective mirror. A little little heavy cargo ship, aged rust, lurking on the right side, its velocity in a heinous attempt to hold on the Leviathan lined balcony. The same sun, fiery orange ball trickled behind the perimeter of the Atlantic, leaving only an orange and chartreuse after energy.

With the exception of plume of white smoke emanating arc rrom the charcoal and red funnel clouds noncondensing marred the night sky, intense, black velvet crossed by brightness of stars newspapers.

At midnight, the Queen Mary 2 passed south of Montauk Point, Long Island.

Seventh

Entering New York Harbor off the Ambrose Light in 0330, the sleeping giant has sailed under the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge one hour, 15 minutes later, carrying a 006-degree heading an logging speed of 9.3 knots cruise. The first light, tinged with orange, appeared behind the superstructure Manhattan shining jewel of a starboard side. In 0540, now maintaining a 33-degree heading, the ship slipped on the blue sheet glass reflection Hudson River 3.6 knots, from fine needle point of the Empire State Building.

Starting starboard turn laborious azipods through its rotation, the giant went to the pier 88 berth in front of a 118-degree heading, throwing their mooring lines dawn in a post-40-degrees, 45.982 'north latitude and 073 degrees, "59.917' longitude west parallel to coordinate Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum and the boats by satellite, paradoxically, the sports Concorde, registered G-BOAD in British Airways livery, which, as her last transatlantic crossing means, had represented the commercial aircraft development summit began with subsonic aircraft, pure reaction that preceded it. They had been the singular reason for transoceanic travel disappearance Tues. The cost to rate this had proved to be too high for Concordia and, like the original Queen Mary, had been withdrawn from service and reducing to a museum exhibit. But the queen Mary's next-generation successor, the Queen Mary 2, had been alive, active in the transatlantic service, and high demand, leaving one to wonder if the ship had somehow replaced the aircraft in a historical cycle ultimately. The Queen Mary 2 will depart from the afternoon their journey to the east with paying passengers. The Concorde would remain motionless, like an exhibition.

My trip had been both a physical and historical covering the distance and time, movement forward and backward values, a time tunnel entrance to the Golden Age of transatlantic liner travel filled with opulence, sophistication, elegance and civility, a recapture history, and thus re-experience early in the values of the time and consideration, perhaps in vain, the reason for his death.

Although the speed had reduced crossing time, which facilitates increased activity and gains, the increase in perceived value can only be equated with monetary value, resulting in an increase of earthly possessions, but commitments of the soul, the intrinsic and supernatural entity behind each body. This commitment has been the pivot point between a human and a human doing. Apparently ratios of the two, the soul and body have fought each other since the first human to walk on the planet, giving up realizations of bodily pleasures in an inherent conflict between the worlds to which they belong-heaven and earth. The more immersed in the second, more missed the first. Entire societies so completely had tried to do so, as the Holy Roman Empire, which had fallen completely losing the same source that had created them.

Walking down the runway, I turned and looked at the giant ocean liner that had brought me to 3082 nautical miles across the Atlantic. Perhaps it will cross again someday, I thought ...

Writing Love Around the World