Courtesy of Cunard Line
Queen Mary 2, the most famous Cunard ship in service, made her maiden call to Greenock and the Clyde on Monday October 19, during a special ‘lap-of-honour’ to mark her fifth birthday.
Queen Mary 2 was the largest ship ever to have sailed up the Clyde, a river which has binding and historical ties to Cunard as over 120 Cunarders have been launched there since 1839. Cunard Line is also celebrating the 170th Anniversary of its founding in 2009, so a double celebration for the company and its flagship.
The 151,400-ton Queen Mary 2 arrived at Greenock at 0800 hours on October 19 and remained at the Greenock Ocean Terminal until 1830 hours. To mark the call there was a firework display immediately before her departure.
Commenting on the visit, Cunard’s Managing Director Peter Shanks, said:
“Most of Cunard’s great ships, including Cunard’s first ship Britannia, and Lusitania, Aquitania, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Caronia and QE2 were all built on the Clyde. As a proud Scotsman myself, born in Glasgow and having spent my early years in Troon, I can say just how proud we are of our associations with the river. It is appropriate for our flagship Queen Mary 2 to pay tribute to her Scottish forbears and this visit during Queen Mary 2’s birthday celebrations is very fitting”.
The voyage commemorated the introduction into service of Queen Mary 2 five years ago in January 2004. She is still the largest, longest, tallest, widest, and most expensive ocean liner ever built and, since the retirement of QE2, the fastest passenger ship in the world. Queen Mary 2 entered service just four days after being named by Her Majesty The Queen during the most spectacular naming ceremony Southampton, her home port, had ever seen. Since that historic entry into service Queen Mary 2 has sailed almost 750,000 nautical miles, completed over 120 Atlantic crossings (the route for which she was specifically built, the first passenger ship to be built for that trade in 35 years), and made calls to 115 ports in 45 countries.
Since becoming Cunard flagship in May 2004, taking over the mantle from QE2, Queen Mary 2 has also become one of the most celebrated ships in the world and successfully continues the Cunard passenger liner tradition established 170 years ago.
Queen Mary 2 Becomes Largest Ship Ever to Visit the Clyde