They turned out in their thousands
yesterday morning to watch the biggest vessel ever to visit their country,
and amongst them was a very old lady with a man's name who saw this
behemoth's even more famous namesake being built before the war.
The QUEEN MARY 2, the pride of the British merchant fleet, visiting
Auckland in New Zealand, came up Rangitoto Channel, to be met by small
vessels at Waitemata Harbour who had waited there since before sunrise to
greet her.
Mount Head was covered with eager spectators; it seemed as though the
whole of Auckland had come to gaze upon this massive maritime marvel,
watching her stately progress towards the container berth reserved for
her. The cruise terminal being too small for her 150,000 grt size.
Amongst the onlookers was this old lady with the bloke's name. In 1935,
and let's be precise, on the 7th of November of that year, she had sailed
down the River Clyde on a journey that would take her to this very self
same part of the world. She arrived in Auckland almost 71 years ago
exactly, on the 30th January 1936.
As she went down that famous shipbuilding river in Scotland she passed the
yard of John Brown at Clydebank and there in the fitting out basin was the
Cunard monster of her day, the original QUEEN MARY. Almost complete, the
vessel had already had a long and troubled life, being begun as far back
as December 1st 1930 when her keel had been laid, and for most of her time
she was known as Hull 534. The depression intervened and the ship, looming
over the Scottish town had been something of a national embarrassment as
she poignantly acted as a monument to laid off workers, closing shipyards,
and a time of heartache for many workless families.
Work resumed after government intervention in 1934 and pride was restored
to the nation and the Clyde. As our old lady, then very young indeed,
passes the stern of the giant liner no doubt thoughts are mixed on leaving
this great river.
And who is this venerable girl of the thirties?
A little ol' tugboat!
The WILLIAM C DALDY (see? A bloke's name!) is a familiar sight in Auckland
as she steams (and I mean steams!) round the harbour taking trippers and
party goers on a cruise that is far removed from her working life as a
harbour tug.
She was built further up the River Clyde from the old QUEEN MARY at the
Renfrew yard of Lobnitz and Company, a shipyard renowned for its harbour
craft, such as tugs and dredgers, for the Auckland Harbour Board, and was
launched on the 1st October 1935. That year about 80 ships had been built
on this river, which was hardly a bumper year for the Clyde, although it's
fair to say no-one would grumble if that many were being built there
today!
As she was being delivered only a few weeks later, it is worth musing
about the men on board her who looked at the mighty Cunarder in Clydebank.
Would they ever have dreamed that in the 21st Century the Cunarder would
still be with us, albeit ensconsed in concrete practically, at Long Beach,
California? And would they be even thinking at all that their little steam
tug under their charge would still be around, but unlike the famous - even
by then - liner she would not only be sailing, but with steam engines
intact?
Perhaps these thoughts would not enter their heads, as they are too
fanciful. But even more fanciful to them would be the idea that their
charge would not only survive better than the luxury liner into the 21st
Century but that she would be there, in Auckland, to meet the successor, a
ship even bigger than the phenomenal hull 534, and one that whilst bearing
the Cunard colours and the name of her predecessor, would be built not on
the Clyde, not even in Britain, but France.
It would all be too fanciful indeed. But surely though, it would be a
matter of great pride for them, and the men in Renfrew who built a lowly
steam tug, to know she would be there, a living link to Cunard's past
glories on their home river, witnessing history in Auckland in 2007.
For more on the WILLIAM C DALDY see:
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