indar wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 5:43 pm
We are ghosts aboard
a ghost-ship, this relic was alive
during our lifetime,
Big bands played in the ballroom
piped in hallways now
like elevator music,
She is a displaced old lady
and we were never part of her history.
Not sure how I missed this one earlier, Indar. A lovely look at the old lady of the sea.
When I was a kid both of the Queens sailed regularly from nearby Southampton, and I saw them regularly when we travelled by ferry across Southampton water to visit relatives on the other side. They looked huge from water level, although they would be dwarfed by modern cruise ships.
I never went on either, but we
were allowed into the docks and it was fascinating to see lines of stevedores running up, or down according to the tide level, numerous gangplanks to various openings in the side carrying sacks and boxes to re-supply before a crossing. Like ants scurrying around a carcass. No safety orange jackets back then, just rough working clothes, and sometimes stripped to the waist if the weather was hot enough. The contrast between uniformed deck officers and the raggle-taggle loaders was striking. (In these days of containers and pallets and forklifts it's hard to imagine the sheer amount of human muscle involved back then.)
Viewed from the ferry side I was awed by the huge holes in the side as various hatches were opened not far above water level, and stuff was loaded by crane from various 'lighters'. Occasionally there would be jets of filthy water gushing from hoses.
As a kid those holes in the side bothered me, but Dad, with his naval background, explained how hatches like that were sealed and 'dogged tight' on the inside, with the locking dogs often beaten into an even tighter fit with sledge hammers. "After all, Son. they're never going to open them at sea."
The Mary always looked more 'rounded' than her somewhat sleeker sister ship, but those three towering funnels gave her a
presence that the Elizabeth lacked.
If we saw them when they'd not long been back in dock they would be salt-stained, rather like a car which has spent a lot of time on Winter roads. With cleanup crews hanging over the sides in cradles, and occasionally repairing storm damage as well as cleaning.
I was at school with kids whose Dads worked on the Queens, including a girl who claimed her dad was one of the captains. The family name was the same, but the 'goodies' which appeared in their home when the ship was in dock suggested he was more likely a steward with 'sticky fingers'. She once brought a glass jar of one hundred sticky lollies to school with her and shared them out, saying her Dad wouldn't mind as it 'was left over' supplies. It never happened again.
I also remember the 'boat train', with the posh carriages, where the lamps had fancy tasselled shades and fresh antimacassars on the headrest of each seat, carrying on beyond the Terminus into the docks, so the rich folks didn't have to walk too far. Some of the kids collected train numbers, I, even then, watched people.
In a way I'm glad the Mary has a peaceful requirement as a hotel, rather than a hot date with a cutting torch at a scrapyard, or being deliberately sunk as part of a man-made reef. I can easily imagine the ghosts from that previous era still walking the warped plank decking.
Gyppo