MAIDEN VOYAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22435, 3 June 1936, Page 13

MAIDEN VOYAGE

LINER QUEEN MARY

NEW YORK REACHED ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME RECORD NOT BROKEN By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Received June 2, 6.45 p.ln.) NEW YORK, June 1 The liner Queen Mary completed her maiden voyage to New York to-day, arriving at 9.3 a.m. She was given a mighty ovation from hundreds of people in tugs, pleasure craft and ferry steamers as she pulled into quarantine and dropped anchor for flhe routine immigration and sanitary inspections. On shore thousands of onlookers lined the waterfront of Brooklyn and Staten Island to obtain their first glimpse of the huge liner, and hours before she was due to reach the upper harbour thousands more were waiting at the Battery. Early this afternoon the Queen Mary started to steam slowly toward the North River pier, where she docked at 4.10 p.m. It is officially stated that the liner averaged 29.13 knots over the measured course of 3158 nautical miles from Cherbourg breakwater to Ambrose Light and completed the voyage in 4 days 12 hours 24 minutes. This compares with the Normandie's record of 4 days 11 hours 42 minutes over 3192 miles, at an average of 29.64 knots.

GOOD PERFORMANCE COMPANY SATISFIED FOG CAUSES 10 HOURS DELAY British Wireless RUGBY, June 1 The liner Queen Mary, which reached New York this morning, covered the distance of just under 3000 miles between Bishop's Rock, Scilly Isles, and Ambrose Light in 4 days 5 hours 48 minutes.

The present record for the Atlantic crossing, measured over this course, was set up by the French liner Normandie in May, 1935, and was 4 days, 3 hours, 24 minutes east to west. On the voyage west to east the Normandie's record was 4 days 3 hours 5 minutes. ..

The time the Queen Mary lost in the fog into which she ran on Saturday night is officially computed at 10 hours. The official average speed for the entire voyage is given at 29.13 knots. The Normandie'B average speed on her maiden trip was 29.68 knots. The Normandie, which arrived at Havre shortly after mid-day from New York, reached 32 knots on the last lap of her voyage. This constitutes a new record for the vessel, the previous fastest speed of which was 31.55 knots.

No Attempt Made on Record The determination of the CunardWhite Star Line and the commander of the Queen Mary, Sir Edgar Britten, to make no attempt upon the record on the maiden voyage, which would not be consistent with due care and respect for the liner's new machinery during the running-in period, was well known. Nevertheless, as the news came through of the great ship's magnificent progress for the first three days of the voyage, the possibility that she would beat the record without special effort began to be canvassed. This idea was finally abandoned when it was learned that the Queen Mary had to reduce speed for several hours on Sunday owing to fog. Satisfaction is very generally expressed at the performance on the first Atlantic crossing, which is held to have fully justified the high hopes which the designers, builders and owners, indeed the whole nation, had set upon her.

The Queen Mary twice broke the record for a day's run. Between noon on Thursday and noon on Friday she covered 747 miles at an average speed of 29.88 knots, and on the next 25 hours' run she did 766 miles, an average of 30.64 knots.

Disappointment of Passengers For the next whole day's run the liner's mileage dropped owing to fog to 678 miles, at 27.12 knots. On the last stage of the voyage, until she reached the Ambrose Light, she covered 641 miles at 29.07 knots. When still some miles from Ambrose Light the vessel was slowed down to half speed, disappointing the passengers, who expected a last spurt. New York messages describe the welcome which hundreds of thousands of people gave the new liner on her arrival. Many thousands, standing on the roofs of motor cars in the hills overlooking the entrance to the Narrows, watched the last stage of the historic maiden trip.

Aeroplanes hovered overhead, and crowds massed by the Battery and cheered lustily as the Queen Mary passed into the Hudson River for docking at a berth at 15th Street.

The distance from Bishop's Hock, Scilly Islands, to the Ambrose Light, New York, is about 236 miles less than from Cherbourg. This accounts for the divergence in the times given in the above cablegrams.