Queen Mary 2 Ship

As the death toll from the gangway collapse on the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship rose to 15, French President Jacques Chirac urged a rapid investigation into what he called "an incomprehensible tragedy." Prosecutors launched a judicial inquiry against "unknown persons" on charges of manslaughter and involuntary injury in Saturday's accident, which sent visitors to the world's largest cruise ship plunging at least 50 feet to the bottom of a dry dock in the town of Saint Nazaire.

The mammoth Queen Mary 2 ocean liner passed under the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday, clearing the bottom of the span by 27 feet before the vessel began a nail-bitingly tight tour of San Francisco Bay. The ship was surrounded by scores of sailboats and other water craft as it slid slowly into the bay. The visit is one of the riskiest passages in modern maritime history -- and a chance for 2,638 passengers to glimpse the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The mammoth Queen Mary 2 ocean liner passed under the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday, clearing the bottom of the span by 27 feet before the vessel began a nail-bitingly tight tour of San Francisco Bay. The ship was surrounded by scores of sailboats and other water craft as it slid slowly into the bay. The visit is one of the riskiest passages in modern maritime history -- and a chance for 2,638 passengers to glimpse the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge.

When two mighty ships named Queen Mary saluted each other Thursday in Long Beach harbor, the buzz was all about big numbers: two of the largest ocean liners ever built, more than 6,000 fans watching eagerly from shore, 800 sailboats and yachts hovering nearby, 14 media helicopters and even three blimps.

A dock gangway crowded with visitors to the Queen Mary 2 collapsed Saturday in the shipyard of St. Nazaire, killing at least 13 people and leaving more than 30 injured, French authorities said. The victims were mostly relatives of workers who have been completing construction of the ocean liner, due to take to the seas in January as the world's largest passenger ship. Children were among the victims, who fell about 50 feet.

When the Queen Mary 2, the world's biggest passenger ship, nosed out to sea on its maiden voyage to the Caribbean, along with sun-famished passengers by the hundreds, it carried $600,000 in Florida-bought food and drink, including some hastily purchased beer. For on the eve of the liner's departure from this south Florida port, employees on QM2 had an unexpected request to the corporate offices in Miami: beer in plastic bottles for the Super Bowl fans on board.

Inaugurating its reign as the world's largest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2 sliced into the Atlantic from a shipyard in St. Nazaire, France, seen off by about 70,000 onlookers and jets streaking the skies red, white and blue. But memories of 15 people killed when a gangway to the ship collapsed on visitors' day on Nov. 14 dampened the mood. The ship's 14-day maiden voyage from England to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is scheduled to start Jan. 12.

But would the Duchess of Windsor have sported a Queen Mary 2 baseball cap? That thought ran through my mind as I perused the ship's photo gallery of the grand and gracious era of Cunard ocean liners. There were the Duke and Duchess, who had brought their pug and perhaps 150 pieces of monogrammed Louis Vuitton luggage. There, too, was Noel Coward, who asked, famously, "Why do the wrong people travel and the right people stay at home?" What would he have made of golf shirts at dinner?

Betty Gray still has the old steamer trunk with its faded "Cunard" sticker that she took on board the Queen Mary in 1956. Somewhere, she still has the $315 bill for that six-day, one-way trip from Southampton to New York. She says she can remember as if it were last night dancing the fox trot with her husband to big band music in the ship salon.

When two mighty ships named Queen Mary saluted each other Thursday in Long Beach harbor, the buzz was all about big numbers: two of the largest ocean liners ever built, more than 6,000 fans watching eagerly from shore, 800 sailboats and yachts hovering nearby, 14 media helicopters and even three blimps.

Betty Gray still has the old steamer trunk with its faded "Cunard" sticker that she took on board the Queen Mary in 1956. Somewhere, she still has the $315 bill for that six-day, one-way trip from Southampton to New York. She says she can remember as if it were last night dancing the fox trot with her husband to big band music in the ship salon.

Two of the world's most famous ocean liners will meet for the first time Thursday in the Port of Long Beach in an event expected to draw hundreds of former passengers, ship buffs and other curious onlookers. The Queen Mary 2, the world's largest passenger ship, is scheduled to pull near its namesake, the retired 1936-vintage Queen Mary, now a hotel and museum at the port.

When Andy Roddick competes, tennis tournament directors offer him chauffeured limos and free shopping trips, suites at the finest hotels, massages, bonbons, comped haircuts. Yet when the world's No. 2 player came to the Olympics -- though he could afford to stay in the Grand Bretagne, Athens' finest hotel, or spring for a room on the Queen Mary 2, where the NBA stars relax -- Roddick chose to bunk in the Olympic village. "I wouldn't want to miss that experience," Roddick said.

But would the Duchess of Windsor have sported a Queen Mary 2 baseball cap? That thought ran through my mind as I perused the ship's photo gallery of the grand and gracious era of Cunard ocean liners. There were the Duke and Duchess, who had brought their pug and perhaps 150 pieces of monogrammed Louis Vuitton luggage. There, too, was Noel Coward, who asked, famously, "Why do the wrong people travel and the right people stay at home?" What would he have made of golf shirts at dinner?

Ship painter Ludovic Loreau worked on the Queen Mary 2 right up until the day in December when the vessel went to sea, putting final touches on the 24-foot columns of its sumptuous restaurant with the care of a craftsman bidding farewell to his masterpiece. Loreau has kept photos of the ship as mementos for his two children. The painter and his co-workers follow the progress of the new giant of the seas, which recently completed its maiden voyage from Britain to Florida, with proprietary pride.

When the Queen Mary 2, the world's biggest passenger ship, nosed out to sea on its maiden voyage to the Caribbean, along with sun-famished passengers by the hundreds, it carried $600,000 in Florida-bought food and drink, including some hastily purchased beer. For on the eve of the liner's departure from this south Florida port, employees on QM2 had an unexpected request to the corporate offices in Miami: beer in plastic bottles for the Super Bowl fans on board.

Ship painter Ludovic Loreau worked on the Queen Mary 2 right up until the day in December when the vessel went to sea, putting final touches on the 24-foot columns of its sumptuous restaurant with the care of a craftsman bidding farewell to his masterpiece. Loreau has kept photos of the ship as mementos for his two children. The painter and his co-workers follow the progress of the new giant of the seas, which recently completed its maiden voyage from Britain to Florida, with proprietary pride.

Two of the world's most famous ocean liners will meet for the first time Thursday in the Port of Long Beach in an event expected to draw hundreds of former passengers, ship buffs and other curious onlookers. The Queen Mary 2, the world's largest passenger ship, is scheduled to pull near its namesake, the retired 1936-vintage Queen Mary, now a hotel and museum at the port.

Inaugurating its reign as the world's largest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2 sliced into the Atlantic from a shipyard in St. Nazaire, France, seen off by about 70,000 onlookers and jets streaking the skies red, white and blue. But memories of 15 people killed when a gangway to the ship collapsed on visitors' day on Nov. 14 dampened the mood. The ship's 14-day maiden voyage from England to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is scheduled to start Jan. 12.

As the death toll from the gangway collapse on the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship rose to 15, French President Jacques Chirac urged a rapid investigation into what he called "an incomprehensible tragedy." Prosecutors launched a judicial inquiry against "unknown persons" on charges of manslaughter and involuntary injury in Saturday's accident, which sent visitors to the world's largest cruise ship plunging at least 50 feet to the bottom of a dry dock in the town of Saint Nazaire.