December 1967-May 1971: the RMS Queen Mary is converted from an ocean liner into a stationary building, permanently moored on the Long Beach waterfront. Cunard hands her over to her new owners -- the City of Long Beach, California -- completely intact, but worn out and suffering from years of deferred maintenance. Cunard also stipulates in the sales contract that she must be rendered unseaworthy, so that no potential future operators could repurpose her as a competing vessel. The conversion involves the removal of three of her four engines, the gutting of much of her second and third class accommodations, the auctioning off of most of the original first class furniture, the replacement of her three (nearly rusted through) smokestacks with aluminum facsimiles, the sandblasting of three decades worth of paint (including her World War II gray livery), and addition of new restaurants and exhibition areas. Music: March from Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary (1695) by Henry Purcell.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 14:32:41 +0000
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