R.M.S. Queen Mary: A Queen of Christmas

By Commodore Everette Hoard

Looking upon our beautiful Queen in the December evening glow, one thing is for sure, the Queen Mary is an awe-inspiring sight!! The visual impact takes one’s breath away with her three huge vermillion stacks ablaze with light and the thousands of portholes and windows in regal array and twinkling like the Milky Way! This beloved ship has now spent 56 Christmases as a Southern California icon. In this time, millions of people have traveled from near and far to celebrate the holidays in this most unique of unique venues. Decorated from stem to stern and with magnificent holiday trees in the splendid lounges and salons, the Queen becomes the embodiment of the essence of Christmas time. After all, her name is Mary! But have you ever wondered what the holidays were like onboard the fabled vessel when sailing the North Atlantic Ocean in war and peace, and in fair weather and foul?

***Christmas 1931. Job number 534 lays in her building cradle in Clydebank Scotland. The name ‘Queen Mary’ was a well-guarded secret until the launch in 1934.***

Just for fun, I have researched the subject and learned that the Queen Mary was at sea 12 out of 30 Christmas days of her life as an ocean-going vessel between May of 1936 and December 1967. The first four were made during the dangerous days of the Second World War when the Queen was a vital instrument in the successful movement of 810,730 Allied troops to the various battle zones.

***The mammoth vessel battles a North Atlantic storm while she races nearly 12,000 GI’s to the European battle zones.***

Christmas day 1941 found Captain Jack Townley in command of the Queen Mary. Her position was between the Sri Lankan city of Trincomalee and Cape Town, South Africa ultimately bound for New York. The ship was returning from Suez after delivering desperately needed reinforcements to fight against the German forces of General Erwin Rommel.

***An empty mess hall in the Queen Mary in 1943 as troops are too seasick to eat.***

After Captain Townley’s retirement from the sea, Commodore Sir James Bisset assumed Great Britain’s highest nautical position as master of the Queen Mary. The superliner sailed from Scotland bound for Suez on December 23, 1942. By Christmas day Commodore Bisset with 10,669 troops and 880 crew were pounding through a force 10 gale in the Bay of Biscay. Conditions onboard were indeed a foul and unhappy environment. The GI ferry stopped for nothing, not even hurricanes! The following year of 1943 was not much better. This time the Commodore had an even stronger, more violent storm to deal with. The 1,019 foot long, 81,000-ton ship was enroute from New York to Scotland with 11,990 American GI’s and 1,087 crew. Because of the submarine threat on the Atlantic, Bisset kept her on full speed. The log reads: ‘Mountainous seas, vessel laboring, pitching heavily, shipping green water and rolling thirty degrees.’ The catering staff had gone all out to knock up 13,000 Christmas dinners of turkey, dressing, and plum pudding for the troops, but most of it was thrown overboard as the men were too seasick to eat. 1944 was the last wartime Christmas at sea, and on that day the ship was in mid-Atlantic headed for New York with 3,500 wounded.

***Chefs hard at work in the main galley preparing the Christmas turkeys.***

***A giant Queen of light preparing for a chilly Christmas crossing of the North Atlantic in the early 1950’s***

Due to the Queen Mary’s annual six-week Winter overhaul being around the holidays, she would only spend eight Christmases at sea in peacetime. Like we do here in Long Beach, the ship was exquisitely decorated with trees and tinsel. Nautical traditions were rigidly observed by the Cunard Line and the ship’s crew. It made for an absolutely wonderful ‘passenger experience’ under the subtle spell of sea and ship. At midnight on Christmas Eve, Father Christmas, who was actually a plump, able seaman or quartermaster dressed in a red linen robe, would arrive in the crowded First-Class Main Lounge, and pass out Christmas greeting cards, all hand-signed by the Commodore. He would then continue to the Cabin and Tourist Class lounges on the same mission. Also starting at midnight, the nursing sisters and members of the Purser’s department would form a group and visit every passenger cabin singing carols! On Christmas Day, Father Christmas would pass out toys to every child onboard.

***A young passenger getting his letter off to Santa Clause on a 1960’s Christmas Cruise to the Canary Islands.***

The Queen Mary would spend Christmas 1948, 1951, 1952, and 1953 on the North Atlantic crossing. These were the glory days of the golden age of ocean travel. However, by 1960 the public were flocking to trans-Atlantic jet air travel. Jets could do in eight hours what it took a Queen Ship four and a half days to do. Finally, to offset losses on the North Atlantic shuttle, the Queen Mary would start doing Winter cruises in 1963. These were aimed at the British cruise market, offering passengers a Winter’s thaw from the harsh English weather. The Christmas cruise operated from Southampton down to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and back. They were very popular, usually leaving England a couple of days before Christmas and arriving at the destination on December 26th - Boxing Day! It was one of these cruises in 1965 that Commodore Geoffrey Marr ran into severe weather in the Bay of Biscay. It was around mid-day, and the sea was rough, but the magnificent ‘Mary’ was breasting the seas with grace, like the Queen she is, when a rogue wave of more than 50 feet in height came out of nowhere hitting the ship on the starboard shoulder. The torrent of green water lifted a two-ton vent cowling and crashed it into the forward superstructure and windows close to the Observation Lounge. A man and his son were most unfortunate to be walking by four of the ¾ inch armored plate glass windows as they shattered. They were treated for more than a hundred minor cuts. A reminder that the sea is most unpredictable, and even though it is the safest form of travel, humans are frail compared to its enormous and, at times, violent majesty.

Christmas cruise 1966 down to the Canary Islands was uneventful and the valiant Queen Mary’s last Christmas at sea. With veteran Cunard master mariner, Captain John Treasure Jones, in command, the majestic vessel would arrive safely here in Long Beach, her forever home on the 9th of December 1967, thirty-nine days and 14,500 nautical miles from England. Perhaps in the bigger picture, this splendid, irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind ship was a holiday present for all Southern Californians and for the many millions of loyal followers and admirers around the earth. Her arrival to the City of Long Beach has further underscored our branding as the ‘International City.’ King George V said in a very heartfelt speech the day the Queen Mary was launched in 1934, “May she in her career bear many thousands of each race to visit the other as students and return as friends.” This is something the Queen Mary has continued to do in her role here in Long Beach without sailing a single nautical mile! Also, that same day someone else commented to the press. She was Lady Mabel Fortescue-Harrison, a well-known English psychic. Lady Mabel predicted, “Most of us will be gone when this takes place including myself, but the Queen Mary will know her greatest fame and popularity when she never sails another mile or carries another fare paying passenger.” After more than fifty five years with us in Long Beach, 55 million guests, and thousands of weddings, music concerts and other events, I think its safe to say- Lady Mabel had quite an insight!

***Children of all classes gather in the First Class Main Lounge for Christmas carols, games, presents and ice cream.***

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday Season and a Merry Christmas!

Maria Regina in saecula saeculorum!!!

(Queen Mary unto the ages of ages!!!)

***The magnificent Queen Mary bedazzled with thousands of lights floating in her custom made berth in Long Beach Christmas 2018.***

For further information, please visit the Queen Mary website: https://queenmary.com/tours/tours-exhibits/

Commodore Everette Hoard began his career aboard the retired Cunard Liner Queen Mary now permanently docked in Long Beach California in 1981 at age 20. Throughout the years he has played many roles in his beloved ship including nautical consultant and maritime historian. His current position as Commodore is chiefly an ambassadorial role and includes officiating wedding ceremonies, entertaining VIP’s, extensive media work, lectures, and historical research. Commodore Everette, in addition to his job with the Queen Mary, is an avid writer on the subject and maintains a close friendship with the esteemed Cunard Line. He has lectured in the Cunard liner, Queen Victoria, and has made several presentations in the Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth 2, and the new Queen Elizabeth. Everette has spent much time in the United Kingdom and met many captains of both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, including Captain Treasure Jones and Commodore Geoffrey Marr, their last masters. “They were my mentors,” says Hoard. “They taught me that an ocean liner has three sides: port, starboard, and social! I only need to command the social side of the Queen Mary, a job which I enjoy immensely. I can’t take our passengers on an ocean voyage, but I can take them across the oceans of time on an unforgettable journey.”

Commodore Everette Hoard can be reached at: commodore.everette@aol.com