We Three Queens

I was chatting with my friend Croix night-before-last, discussing his recent voyage on the Queen Elizabeth II, which had docked early that same morning in Manhattan. He mentioned a historic meeting-of-the-maids where three Cunard Line vessels were going to converge in New York harbor at 7:30 p.m. and subsequently go in convoy formation through the harbor, under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and out to sea. Even though Croix was exhausted and it was raining and cold as sin, there was nothing for it but to bundle up, saddle our horses, gallop over to the fishing pier off 65th Street in Brooklyn and watch this royal parade sail majestically by. And sail they did, and majestic it was, with the Queen Mary II leading the parade, the brand new Queen Victoria second and, tagging along, the highly venerated QE2 which, I’m told, is embarking on her final voyage. She is due to be decommissioned and put out to pasture as a hotel/tourist attraction in Dubai. So this gathering of the three ladies was truly historic, never to be repeated.

It was a dark and stormy night and we froze our butts off but the fireworks nonetheless lit up the sky as the ships passed the Statue of Liberty, accompanied by a mass of smaller vessels hooting and honking. All three ships are veritable small cities anyway and they were all exploiting every possible light source--three large birthday cakes on the move.

I’m glad we partook of this adventure even though I feared for our health, if not our sanity, as we stood staunchly braving the elements. Oh, yeah, that Queen Mary is one huge pleasure palace and Croix told me she only clears the Verrazano by six feet when the tide is out. Uh…I suppose that could be, she certainly seemed to be reaching for the sky--but six feet doesn’t seem quite enough to me.