Last Trip Ends For Queen Mary

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31549, 11 December 1967, Page 13

Last Trip Ends For Queen Mary

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright)

LONG BEACH (California), Dec. 10. The giant Cunard liner Queen Mary docked at Long Beach amid cheers yesterday at the end of a final voyage which its captain declared had been magnificent in spite of reports that the passengers were discontented.

Captain Jones dismissed reports that his ship was infested with rats and that the passengers were unhappy. Thousands cheered, small boats bobbed in the water and planes flew overhead as the Queen Mary ended her 39-day voyage from England to Long Beach, where she is to be transformed into a maritime’ museum and floating hotel. “I have not heard one complaint from my passengers and I have given them ample opportunity to do so if they wished. Ninety-nine per cent of them have come voluntarily to me and told me how delighted they were with this cruise,” Captain Jones said.

“We have had our ups and downs. We expected this. We expected heat, but other than a few days around Rio we have had altogether delightful weather.

“We wanted to go round Cape Hom—to be the largest ship ever to go round the Hom—and it was a magnificent cruise all the way. The Los Angeles county health officer boarded the vessel to check charges that it was infested with rats and cockroaches.

A spokesman for the Cunard Line, which sold the ship to Long Beach for £1,230,000, said the company had advised that the Queen Mary was unsuitable for the cruise. The company's only

concem had been to supply a crew—passenger arrangements were Long Beach’s responsibility. One passenger, Mrs Richard Seaver, said there was some rationing towards the end of the cruise, “but, by and large, the spirit of the passengers was jolly.”