Before our Christmas cruise, we stayed a night on the original Queen Mary, which is now a floating hotel docked permanently off Long Beach, California:
Magnificent does not begin to describe it…
Here is sunrise on deck…
Ahoy there! Idiot looking through a telescope to starboard!
For some reason, it had a mast, which was entirely redundant:
Err, those funnels are…tall:
VERY tall…
Very very tall (and hard to sweep!)
Stay tuned for more boat porn tomorrow!
1 response so far ↓
Jim // January 14, 2009 at 4:02 pm
re: the mast. i’ve seen seemingly redundant masts pictured on old steam-powered ships before, and wondered the same thing. it might be that ships constructed in the early 20th century had masts for safety — say the dodgy steam engine bites it on the open ocean, they could use the mast with and emergency sail bent for rudimentary power and steering. (even a sail very small in comparison to a ship’s size can have some effect in providing power.) or maybe the mast was used mainly to keep watch — for icebergs and so on. however i’m just guessing. the folks i volunteer with at the museum would have the answer instantly with loads of detail. i’ll ask them…