The Rolling Mary: On Dangerous Seas

The RMS Queen Mary was a strong and stable ship on the ocean as evidenced by her so far 86 years of life. But she was not as steady as originally designed. She had a minor flaw that affected the first two decades of her operating career. Here now are some fascinating details and colorful anecdotes of the Queen Mary's rather rough voyages.

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#rmsqueenmary #oceanliner #history

CHAPTERS:
0:00 The Rolling Mary
0:57 A Reason to Roll
3:26 A Problem at Hand
6:07 The Rogue Wave
8:11 Despite the Stabilizers...
10:42 The Piano Story
11:43 Retiring the Mary

REFERENCES:
"Queen Mary Queen of the Queens" by William J. Duncan

"The Stateliest Ship" by Steamship Historical Society of America

Stories of the RMS Queen Mary as told by Ralph Rushton:

CREDITS:
Guidance with research and development is provided by Shilo from HenryHallFan (long time Queen Mary researcher and fan) Channel link:

Further guidance was provided by Steven Ablonczy, long-time Queen Mary historical researcher, and board member of QMI Restore the Queen.

The Drone footage is provided by:
Dronesphere:
AND
Aero Realm:
AND
Jose Manuel Garcia:

MUSIC:
"Keys of Moon - Flowing Energy" is under a Creative Commons (CC-BY 3.0) license

'Omega' by Scott Buckley is under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 3.0)

"Scott Buckley - Horizons" is under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license.

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DISCLAIMER: I am not a University-educated historian, Alex the Historian was a nickname I got while working at Disneyland as a tour guide. After 5 years of using it as a stage name for my channel, it would be detrimental to the channel to suddenly change the name.

[AlextheHistorian]

Watch the NEXT episode in this series. Escaping the Nazis Aboard Queen Mary:
Watch the PREVIOUS episode in this series. World's Fastest Liner: Queen Mary races NORMANDIE:

[chrisjpfaff]

My father went to Europe in early 1944, landed in France just after D-Day. He told me the trip over on the Queen Mary was awful, the rolling made half of the passengers seasick.

[paulonorato]

This ship looks so much nicer than these new monstrosities.

[Tobico]

My Dad came back from WWII on this ship. They were blessed with great weather so no major tossing about. Dad wouldn't have survived if it had been rough. He was bed ridden and could not even sit up. He had friends take pictures of the ship for him since he couldn't get around. The most interesting photo was one he took himself from his bunk. It was the Statue of Liberty lit up at night! He said everyone was crying and cheering to be home.

[jayhunthuntcreative]

I was on this ship from Southhampton to NYC. It was a nightmare in rough seas. As a 11 year I ventured out in a storm and was almost swept overboard but in that storm the ship "fell" in between waves. Everyone when flying. Really surprise my parents.

[alanjames]

Alex, thank you for the graphic of the 52 degree roll. That was terrifying. Sometimes cruise ships can’t avoid bad weather and roll around 20 degrees. That freaks cruisers out and they think they’re going to die!

[guyh]

My father went to war on the Queen Mary in 1942 on a journey from Sydney to San Francisco as a volunteer in the Empire Air Training Scheme. He shared a bunk with two others in eight hour shifts. He arrived in Canada by train, completed his pilot training there and eventually arrived in the UK.
She was initially converted as a troopship in Australia in 1940 to transport Australian and NZ troops to the UK.

[mrich]

My grandmother and her three kids crossed the ocean in the Queen Mary. She was one of the few who didn't get sick in the storm.

[Unownshipper]

This is very interesting. I knew about the wave that inspired Gallico to write The Poseidon Adventure, but I'd never heard about this reputation for rolling or about this crew member's account, both were fascinating to learn. Nicely done job with the visuals (especially the piano).

[ministryofanti-feminism]

2:10 This particular double-ended Scotch boiler is at the Maritime Museum in Irvine, Ayrshire, Britain. I visited it just a few weeks ago and was astonished at it's enormity.

[oddball]

My dad only made occasional comments about his experience during the war. His troop ship was the EMPRESS OF CANADA travelling to Egypt 10 decks below the water line. If it was hit with anything, they had no chance of escape. I presume that the rolling Mary relied on speed to avoid any submarine action. Thanks for your service.

[jetsons]

Alex, that image at 6:30 is amazing, image being up in the crow's nest. "8:07 Tea Set" The grand piano going left, right, left and on is priceless. Alex, your narration and music you chose is Thanks for your time and hard work.

[timmotel]

Excellent as always. I spent a nite on the Mary Sept. 7, 2008. It was great. My son and I wandered the ship late at nite and gave ourselves a tour. No one else to be seen anywhere. Wonderful Ship/Lady. Thanks and Best Regards.

[elit]

This is one of the best liner videos I have ever seen. Absolutely incredible job. Perfectly composed and very enlightening!

[Bll]

If additional ballast compensated for the difference in weight in the boilers, but still didn’t prevent the excessive rolling, it sounds more like a fundamental design flaw, if the rolling was appreciably worse than on competitor ships.

[kiwijonowilson]

When the Spruce Goose was also in Long Beach, I visited them both (many years ago). The Queen Mary certainly has a nice style about it. Particularly enjoyed visiting the forward bar with all its art deco! Amazing stories - can't imagine how bad 52 degrees felt!

[fionawimber]

Very informative. I enjoyed this updated, new video of "Rolling Mary".

[davidgilmore]

Great video about a wonderful ship that had its problems I didn't know about. I was a child when my father took us down to the beach in Laguna at night to watch the Queen Mary sailing slowly by on her last voyage...to Long Beach.

[johntechwriter]

My dad was in the Canadian army and after VE Day took the Queen Mary back to N. America. The ship was packed with young men, all hungry for home, as well as for good food. As my dad related, the galleys were open 24 hours a day and the men could eat whatever they wanted. The quality of the food was equal to the finest restaurants of the time, but what impressed my dad most was how well organized and supplied the messes were. He could not recall shortages of anything. A final note: During WWII the Queen continued to ply the trans-Atlantic route. As for the u-boats and other German warships, the Queen could easily outrun them all.

[William_]

What an outstanding ship. So glad things are looking up for the future of the QM. Looking forward to travelling from the UK to visit her one day.