Three Queens - QE2, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria - together for the last time - Southampton, April 22 2008
THOUSANDS watched and wept as the most famous ocean liner in the world, the Queen Elizabeth 2, said farewell to her sisters.
The 41-year-old ship’s baritone whistle bellowed in salute to Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria – marking the last time all three liners will be seen together.
Each deafening blast, from a horn audible for ten miles around, was answered with even longer ones from the other two Cunard Queens.
QE2 goes out of service at the end of this year, to become a floating hotel resort in Dubai. Different itineraries mean the three ships will never all meet again.
Vantage points along the Solent were crowded with spectators cheering and taking pictures of the unique event.
First the massive Queen Mary 2 – at 1,132 feet the longest, if not the heaviest, ship in the world – moved upstream to turn and sail past her older sister.
Crew and passengers lined the rails to wave, their cheers drowned by the mighty foghorn exchanges, as the two liners closed to within a few yards of each other.
As Queen Mary 2 turned towards the English Channel to start a six-day voyage to New York, the new Queen Victoria followed her out, with more whistles and cheers.
And then the QE2 was alone, tied to her berth while painters and fitters went back to work on refurbishments before her last season as a passenger ship begins, on Sunday.
Cunard president Carol Marlow said: “At Cunard we like to create some excitement, we like to create some memories and we’re in our element when we create some history – and that’s what happened today, with all three of our Queens in Southampton, our home port.
“We have never had all three in Southampton together and they will never all meet again.
“It was a very moving moment.
“The QE2 is here for a refit, to make her absolutely beautiful and pristine for her farewell celebration season. She will have a marvellous last summer with us before she moves on to a new chapter in her life.”
A highlight of her final season will be in Southampton on June 2, when the Queen – who launched the QE2 in 1967 – will visit the ship.
It will end on November 11 when, flying her paying-off pennant, she leaves Southampton for the last time and heads to Dubai.
Ms Marlow said: “In our increasingly casual world, more and more people are enjoying this resurgence of the golden age of travel, with formality at dinner and grand balls at sea.
“I am very happy that as our new liners continue this tradition, the QE2 is going off to somewhere where she will be preserved, where future generations will be able to admire her and where she will be well looked after.
“There will be a lot of people, especially when she goes on her final round Britain voyage, that are going to be in tears.”
