Gangway Magazine Volume 2/34


Gangway 2/34		20^th September 2007

Queen Elizabeth 2 ~ 40^th Birthday ~ 20^th September 2007

*Queen Elizabeth 2* sails from the River Tyne ~ 17^th September 2007 ~ Photograph Fraser Darrah

The *Queen Elizabeth 2* celebrates her 40^th Birthday since her launch on the 20^th September 1967. Despite her many up and downs in her career she has remained an icon of British Shipping that has declined to almost nothing in the intervening years.

The QE2's maiden voyage, from Southampton to New York City, started on May 2, 1969, and took 4 days, 16 hours and 35 minutes. In 1982, she took part in the Falklands War, carrying 3,000 troops and 650 volunteer crew to the south Atlantic. By 1996, she had completed her twentieth world cruise, had sailed more than 4 million miles, the equivalent of completing 185 circuits of the globe, and had carried nearly two million passengers. The ship’s capacity was approximately 2,715, around 1,700 passengers and 1,015 crew members. The QE2 is Cunard’s longest serving ship but will retire in November 2008 and become a floating hotel at Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.

She is presently undertaking a commemorative voyage around the British coast and is in Glasgow on the same day that she was launched in 1967.
She made her first visit to the Tyne (a previous call had to be aborted due to fog) over the weekend of 17-18^th September 2007, when she was greeted and wished farewell by many thousands lining the banks of the Tyne, despite the foulest weather the North East could summon up.

More photographs and links


Blue Star Line Postcards Series 3

*Brisbane Star* in Port Philip Bay

Blue Star Line Postcards Series 3 have been printed and are now available from Wallace Trickett. Anybody wishing to purchase them click here for details.


*Nedlloyd Juliana* departing Wellington ~ Photograph Peter Stacey

I recently had an enquiry whether the Blue Star flag was still flying. The above photograph of the *Nedlloyd Juliana* was taken on the 4^th September 2007 as she departed Wellington, on her first visit to the port. In this mixed up world, she is managed by Reederei Blue Star for Maersk Line, but still retains the Nedlloyd in her name, sporting the Blue Star Flag painted on her accommodation block. I suppose someone somewhere knows why?
More photographs of Nedlloyd Juliana


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