Roblightbody dot com
  • Home
    • What's New?
    • About Rob >
      • QE2 Talks & speaker
    • Contact
  • Rob's Blog
  • Gadgets
  • Ocean Liners
    • Queen Mary 2 >
      • QM2 News in service
      • QM2 News (When New)
      • QM2 News (Pre Float-out) >
        • My Travels
      • QM2 Reviews
      • QM2 A Ship of Superlative Comparisons
    • Queen Elizabeth 2 >
      • QE2 in Dubai (QE2 Today)
      • QE2 Forum (link)
      • My own QE2 Story >
        • My QE2 Photos
        • 2008 Stephen Payne QE2 Lecture
        • 2008 QE2 Last Thoughts
        • 2008 QE2 Clyde Farewell
        • 2008 August QE2 Cruise
        • 2007 December QE2 Cruise
        • 2007 September QE2 Clyde
        • 2005 August QE2 Queensferry
        • 2003 June QE2 Queensferry
        • 1987 QE2 April Bremerhaven >
          • QE2 April 1987 Exterior Photos
          • QE2 April 1987 Interior Photos
      • QE2 News >
        • QE2 Dubai News (2008 to 2015) >
          • Fears grow over bid to turn QE2 into a hotel in Dubai
        • QE2 News 2008
        • QE2 Sold to Dubai Articles (2007)
        • QE2 News 2007
        • QE2 News 2006
        • QE2 News 2002 to 2005
        • QE2 News 1998 to 2001
      • QE2's Name
      • QE2 1987 Rebirth
      • QE2 Reviews 1997 to 2007
      • Speed Queen
      • QE2 Storm Photos
      • QE2 1975 Guide
      • 1969 Shipshapes
      • QE2 Sydney 2006
      • QE2 Cutaways
      • QE2 in 1969
      • QE2 Fuel Economy
      • QE2 Facts
      • Bridgecam Snaps
      • QE2 1995 Freak Wave
      • QE2 Bridge View
    • SS France >
      • SS France Swan Song (2001)
      • 2006 Finalé >
        • Telegraph April 2006
        • Miami Herald
        • AP News May 2006
        • Justin Huggler Article
        • BBC News June 2006
        • July 2006 (MSNBC)
      • Scrapping Allowed (2007)
    • United States >
      • Maiden Voyage
      • NCL Buys SS United States
    • Queen Elizabeth
    • Queen Mary >
      • No rushing Churchill and his ship of state
      • RMS Queen Mary News >
        • 2007 Fate of rusting Queen Mary in the balance
        • 2006 Queen Marys Meet
        • 2004 As ship and work of art, the QM still an original
        • 2001 Is Queen Mary seaworthy?
        • 2000 Sir John Brown Dies
        • 1998 - Queen of Kitsch
    • Normandie
    • Lusitania & Mauritania
    • Aquitania >
      • Aquitania Emails
    • Other Liners >
      • Transvaal Castle
      • Saxonia
      • Ivernia
      • Caronia
  • Cars
    • Classic Mini >
      • My Classic Minis
      • History >
        • End of Mini >
          • FT Sep 2000
          • Glasgow Herald
          • BBC News
          • Autocar March 2000
        • Sexist Adverts
        • John Cooper Dies
      • Brochures
      • My Archive
      • The MPi Minis >
        • Official Launch Documents
        • Classic Mini Postcards
        • MPI Mini Colours and trim, 1997 onwards
        • 1998 - Examples of MPI changes from SPI
        • 1998 MPI Mini Price List
        • Extracts from the 1996 Brochure launching the 1997 model year Minis
      • SPI Mini ACR2 Fault Code Reader
    • First new MINI
    • Ford Puma
    • Mazda MX-5 Miata
    • Austin Princess
    • Favourite Cars
  • PS Waverley
  • Scotland
    • Jeely Piece Song
    • Flower of Scotland
    • Where's the Glasgow?
    • I Belong to Glasgow (link)
  • Chuckles
  • Cool Websites
Home > Ocean Liners > Queen Elizabeth 2 > QE2 Reviews > North Atlantic Storm hits QE2 (1998)

North Atlantic Storm hits QE2 (1998)

Picture
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 11:39:21 -0800 (PST)
From: "Richard Paul "
Subject: [Liners] QE2 and the Wave

I, too was aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 on her most recent Transatlantic roll. It was a wonderful trip filled with all kinds of adventures and experiences. Just being aboard QE2 is a thrill.

I think that Ted Scull and Kevin Tam would concur that poor ole QE2 took a terrible beating on this voyage. The entire voyage was rocky. I don't think we had a single hour from Monday, Dec. 14 to Saturday Dec. 19 where the ship wasn't rolling, pitching and shuttering. The range of motion was incredible. Many people, including Ted and Captain Warwick commented on the unusual motion the ship was experiencing. Captain Warwick said at the Cunard World Club reception on Saturday that it was one of the roughest crossing he had experienced in his entire career. It was especially bad on Tuesday night and Friday night/Saturday morning.

The real excitement came on Saturday morning when I was literally thrown out of bed. The ship hit what I heard was a 75 foot wave which crashed through the door that leads out onto the Weather Deck. Water poured into the ship and people in the crew mess and galley had to flee for their lives. Two crewmen were injured and the forward crew galley was badly damaged. Water was every where and got into the spaces between One Deck and Two Deck and started raining down into passenger and cabins on Two Deck. The computer centre was flooded and passengers on Two Deck forward had to be moved. No water got into my cabin which was about as far forward on One Deck as possible (1004) but the carpet outside in the corridor was totally saturated. We had to stop (six knots) in order to prevent hitting another wave that would inundate the weather deck and flood into the ship. She sailed at between six and eight knots for about four hours to maintain stability. It took four hours before we were able to get underway.

Slowly, we limped along until the seas calmed down enough to allow us to build speed (which she did and reached 29 knots at one point). The whole trip was incredibly rough and, I think, half of the dish ware aboard was broken.

This reduction in speed followed a previous cut in speed on Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning. QE2 sailed at a reduced speed of between 10 and 15 knots for several hours because of the rough seas.

In addition to the water damage from the Weather Deck door, QE2 sprang leaks everywhere. Pipes burst on One Deck cutting the supply of water for several hours to many cabins. A leak developed in the ship's theatre and it was literally raining from the ceiling in the theatre. Upper Deck by the photo shop area, the windows were leaking and big blowers were brought in to dry the carpet. The forward end of the Lido by the G Stairway entrance was wet the entire trip. They used bedspreads to soak up the water.

When entering NY Harbor, I stood on the Sun Deck and could see large salt stains on the funnel. In the Mauritania Restaurant on several occasions, waves splashed up onto the windows.

I think that it was a mistake for Cunard to postpone the refit which was scheduled for November. She looks beaten from the outside and somewhat tattered on the inside. Her crew scrambles quite often from one problem to another. It's such a shame because she is such a wonderful ship which engenders so much loyalty from her passengers. I can't imagine any modern cruise ship handling these seas at all. QE2's ability to sail though seas of this nature (sometimes at speeds reaching 28 knots) is a testament to her strength, builders and designers. Never did I feel nervous or in danger -- even after the Weather Deck door burst open (that just added to the excitement of a rough crossing). She is a strong and powerful ship and, with a little care, will continue to be so. I'd sail on her again in a second.

The service is still second to none and, although rough, was a wonderful voyage. The Travel Office staff did an outstanding job of rescheduling all of our flights from N.Y. and arranging overnight accommodations. They had a daunting task and accomplished it well.

Well, that's my report.

Happy Holidays to everybody

Rich

Richard Paul

Sacramento, California 

Sections

Rob's Blog
​Gadget Reviews

Ships

PS Waverley
Queen Mary 2
Queen Elizabeth 2
RMS Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Mary
More Liners

Cars

Classic Mini
New MINI (2001)
Mazda Miata MX-5
Wedge Princess
Ford Puma
Other Favourites

Everything Else

Whats New
About Rob
Contact Rob
Chuckles
Cool Sites