Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2008 | Page 26

life

FEATURE

THE QE2 –
FAREWELL TO THE
LAST GREAT LINER

Photo June Elford: QE2 in Valetta harbour, Malta

By JUNE ELFORD
Last year the news hit the
headlines – RMS Queen
Elizabeth, the flagship of the
Cunard Line for over 30 years,
had been sold by her owners
Carnival, the American cruise
giant.
In reply to the storm of
protests that the QE2 could
have gone on sailing for a
while yet, Cunard said that
it was impossible to refuse
the £50 million deal from the
investment arm of the Dubai
government. On 11 November
2008 she will sail from her
home port of Southampton for
the last time, bound for New
York and then on to Dubai
where she will be berthed
permanently at Palm Jumeirah,
the world’s largest man-made
island, as a luxury floating
hotel, conference centre and
entertainment venue.

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The QE2 has been sailing
with the Arabic numeral ‘2’
besides working for P & O.
past the Isle of Wight for
to distinguish her from the
Whenever the QE2 returned to
almost 40 years. She is the
monarch.
Southampton, Danny went out
most famous ship in existence
“She’s a wonderful ship,”
in a pilot boat to meet the ship
and still the fastest passenger
says Danny Robson, a choice
at the Nab Tower lighthouse,
liner in service with a top
pilot for Cunard for 19 years
climbing aboard on the ladder
speed of over 32.5 knots
(36.8 MPH). She has
sailed over five million
nautical miles since she
was built by the Upper
Clyde Shipbuilders in the
John Brown Shipyard
on Clydebank, Scotland,
designed as a ‘Panamax’
ship to transit the Panama
Canal. When Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth 11
launched the 70,327-tonne
ship in September 1967,
the QE2 was named after
her predecessor, the liner
Queen Elizabeth that
Photo: QE2 in Liverpool during her 40th-anniversary cruise round Britain.
had sunk in Hong Kong
harbour in 1972, but

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