Author: Alfredo Casuso

SCRIBBLINGS – MARCH 2022

                                                    From Bill Miller 

Mar 2022

Fri Mar 25^th Onboard the Queen Mary 2 at sea in the North Atlantic:  Bruce Nutton  had an American father & an English mother and as a teenager, in the 1950s, he crossed the Atlantic several times.  Even as a young man, he himself had a fascination for ships, especially those big, famous liners.   As it happened, he traveled on four of the most illustrious of the 1950s & ‘60s – the Liberte, Ile de France, Queen Mary & United States.   Recently, we met aboard the Queen Mary 2.  He’d attended my talks and some long-ago memories were sparked.

“Despite being English, my mother absolutely loved the French Line, in fact many things French,” he recalled.  “The Liberte might just have been her favorite ship of all.   We were very fortunate to travel in first class and the Liberte’s first class quarters were magnificent:   Fine, highly polished woods, Aubusson carpets, Lalique chandeliers and chairs done in that deep, rich red and which came from the Normandie.   It was all sort of post-war French Art Deco.   The waiters were charming, often good looking and delightfully accented.  Mother was absolutely charmed and even infatuated.   And one of those red-suited bell boys would always appear to light her after-dinner cigarette.   But of course the food, both the preparation and presentation, was, as was said so often,  absolutely magnifique!   It was Skate in butter sauce for breakfast just as you said in your talk.   The caviar and the wines just flowed. Mother went to dinner wearing long gowns, jewels and a fur wrap.  My parents sat each evening through 6 or 7 courses.  Dining was the main event – and then more Champagne and dancing afterward. First class on the Liberte [seen below at Le Havre] was like being in the finest hotel in Paris except that it moved.   It took 6 days, as I recall, to go from Le Havre to New York – and four of those nights were formal dress.” 

The Liberte & Ile de France together at New York, but idle during a French maritime strike in 1957

The main lounge on the Liberte, done largely in gold & in red

But it wasn’t all glamor and luxury and that fine dining for a teenager.   “My father took me one afternoon down to the ship’s indoor pool,” recalled Bruce.  “I think it was on D Deck, at the very bottom of the ship. But I was petrified.  I did not want to go in the water.   I was convinced that there was a hole at the bottom of the pool and which extended underneath the ship itself.   I feared I would be sucked into the ocean – and lost!”

“On another crossing on the Liberte, I did not want to go, to leave my friends in America.  After leaving New York, I went down to the gym where there was a large ship’s wheel mounted on the wall.   It was merely a decorative item, but I was convinced it could be useful – well, useful to me.   I manage to loosen the wheel and turn it 180 degrees.   I was sure this would cause the Liberte to reverse course and return to New York!”

On another crossing, Bruce and his parents took the equally splendid Ile de France.   The year was 1957.   “She was another ship of great decorative style.   The first class restaurant was three decks high and the lounges had fine tapestries as wall hangings.   Our cabin was large, styled in more Art Deco and had a bathtub as long as the Seine.   The Ile was also unique – she had that rare sense of a ship having a ‘soul’.   There was this ambience.   This feeling.   This sense of romance even.   She was, after all, rated as the very best ship for a shipboard romance.   Passengers strolled the promenade deck and it was called a ‘boulevard’ – with passing passengers.   One or two movie stars were on our trip.  You would always smell  expensive French perfume on the lle de France.   And on our crossing, the Ile was still heroic – she had just rescued lots of passengers & crew from the sinking Andrea Doria [July 25^th 1956].”

“The Queen Mary was another ship with that sense of having a hidden soul, something different from the steel, wood, nuts & bolts.   The feeling sort of embraced you.  You  just loved being onboard almost from the moment you stepped across the gangway.   We do 3 trips in her.   She was different than the French liners, however.   She was more like some grand old British country house filled with traditions, order, a sense of stately solitude.   The staff, again in first class, were Cunard trained and mannered down to their little fingers.  It was all very proper.  I remember thinking the chef looked like a winter snowman.  He came to our table, with a silver trolley and to carve the finest beef you ever tasted, in an all-white uniform and a big puff hat.   It was all done with a seriousness – there was no idle chit-chat, but highly trained manners.   Yes, the Queen Mary was like the best run country house, a sort of Downton Abbey on the seas.”

               SCRIBBLINGS

                                                    From Bill Miller 

Mar 2022

Tue Mar 22^nd:   At sea in the eastern Atlantic onboard the Queen Mary 2:   In the long lineage of glorious Cunard captains, Aseem Hashmi is one of the very best.   On our recent three-part voyage, he took the time and sit down (and over coffee) discuss the Cunard flagship and the recent Covid pandemic.

Capt Hashmi is also quite unique.   In the annals of both ocean liner & Cunard’s 182-year history, the captain has held two prestigious roles – he commanded aircraft for British Airways and then, making a career change and being extensively re-educated and retrained, he attended maritime college, graduated, joined Cunard and became master of the illustrious Queen Mary 2. 

COVID & THE QUEEN MARY 2

The Queen Mary 2 was on her annual long winter cruise and in Australia when the disruptive and deadly covid virus took its firm hold back in March 2020.   Like cruise ships worldwide, all plans were disrupted — and huge changes and, of course, challenges lay ahead.   Captain Aseem Hashmi was due to go on leave from the Cunard flagship, but sudden, fresh orders were flashed from Carnival/Cunard headquarters in Southampton.

“We were ordered to return to the UK – and abort our long, 95-day winter cruise.  So, we disembarked all passengers at Fremantle and flew them home – well, except for 200, who for medical reasons could not fly.  Our homeward routing was simple:   Directly to Southampton via only Mauritius (for fuel) and then Durban (again for fuel).   Before departing, however, we were officially re-classified as a ‘merchant ship’.  We were no longer a ‘passenger liner’.   Therefore, there would be no entertainment onboard (except for one pianist), the menus reduced and, at my own request, having church service only once a week.   After departing from Fremantle, we did have an added duty:  We set-up meteorological buoys in the Indian Ocean for the Australian Government.”

Captain Hashmi continued:   “Once at Durban, we waited at anchor for 6 days.   There was a long queue of ships with us.   No one was allowed ashore even as we took on South African fuel.   We actually loaded 3 days extra fuel just for a possible emergency.  We would be 2 ½ weeks at sea, without port calls, from Durban northward to Southampton.  We did, however, have a medical emergency off East London and used a helicopter evacuation.  Altogether, we sailed at a reduced 20 knots to conserve fuel.  There was a long gap between Walvis Bay and Dakar with just about no suitable ports [along the West African coast] for landing or even emergencies.”

“We had 1,250 crew and the 200 guests onboard for the 29-day voyage,” added the Captain.   “Deck 13 was reserved for passengers only.  A bar was open four hours a day – two hours in the daytime, two in the evening.  The crew generally spent time ‘deep cleaning’ the ship.  The only notation during the trip was that we did have another medical emergency off Tenerife, but again we used a helicopter.”

“When we finally reached Southampton, there was great uncertainty, even great fear, of the virus.   It was the very beginning — there was no covid testing yet.   Even the harbor pilots feared us.  On the bridge, we were all dressed like suited astronauts.   Southampton itself was so strange, even eerie.  It was totally silent – completely empty.   The Queen Victoria, Azura and Britannia were already laid-up.  We could see from the bridge that the roads and streets on shore were completely silent.  There wasn’t a car or bus or truck in sight.   But our first priority was to get the staff & crew off the ship.   It became a slow and difficult process.   Quarantine periods in the UK were in place.  The crew was told that they would be paid for at least several months, but sent home first.   Carnival UK chartered several 747 jets and sent them to India & the Philippines.  But first, it was all a very emotional farewell. The Queen Mary 2 was their home, their safe haven.   Many crewmembers were in tears.  We told them that they would probably be back in 4 months.  But it actually took 20 months for them to return.”

The next decision was what to do with the Queen Mary 2.   Captain Hashmi rotated in command and along with a much reduced 120 maintenance crew.   The 131,000-ton liner was placed in “hot lay-up” (as compared to “warm lay-up” for longer periods and “cold lay-up” for  extended periods).   The Captain added, “We were anchored for a month at a time off Weymouth and later Torquay, along England’s South Coast.  At one point, 10  liners were gathered together. We were a solemn group.  Months and months passed, but we would actually leave for sea at times, mostly  in winter and because of storms.  Every crewmember had his or her own cabin — and one with a balcony.  The Carinthia Lounge on Deck 7 was converted to the officers’ club.”

“The normally busy and happy Queen Mary 2 was like the Mary Celeste,” concluded Captain Hashmi.  “She was empty and silent, and we had only dim lighting.  Once a week, we would run water (showers, sinks, toilets, etc) at the same time to avoid plumbing problems.   The ship was of course full of rumors, especially ones of a return to service.   The dates were actually postponed several times.  It was all referred to as our ‘RTS,’ our return to service.   Finally, we were sent to Brest in France for drydocking and a refit, and then, in late September [2021], the crew returned.   A few did not return of course, but those that did  had to be re-trained for safety, newly in place Covid rules & precautions and refreshing for Cunard’s fine White Star service.  The Queen Mary 2 resumed sailing that November [2021].”