July 21st 1947

"ranwhenparked" (ranwhenparked) 07/21/2020 at 19:54 • Filed to: None

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Mobil print ad, 1947

I’ve been thinking about this a bit - the last time international travel was totally shut down, global trade nearly still, a nd ordinary life heavily disrupted would have been WWII. Vaughn Monroe ’s popular 1943 song, When the Lig hts Go On Again , optimistically looked forward to th e day when blackout restrictions were rescinded and cities could be lit up, and when ships could sail ag ain, reconnecting the world’s nations and peoples.

On this day in 1947, after 8 years of interruption , the second part of that wish came true . Released from wartime service, in which she transported a total of 340,000 American and Commonwealth troops and steamed 180,000 miles to ports around the world, and fully reconditioned, Cunard White Star Line’s Queen Mary set sail on her first postwar voyage to great fanfare in both Southampton and New York. In the days before jet airliners, the weekly express service operated by the big liners was the primary means of travel between Europe and North America, so this meant that for those in the US wishing to visit the UK, or vice versa, it was now once again fast, easy, and convenient to do so for the first time since 1939. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take us 8 years.

OPPOsaurus WRX > ranwhenparked 07/21/2020 at 20:23

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but gawd gaves me the eletric light and its ma rite to turn dems on if i’s wants to.  the fukin gubment cant tell me wut ta doo

facw > ranwhenparked 07/21/2020 at 20:29

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A big deal indeed. Somewhere my parents have a set of Dutch tiles celebrating the ending of the war, including one like this one highlighting the resurrected KLM’s transatlantic service:

Of course planes of the day were small, expensive, and not very luxurious compared to a first class ship passage, though significantly faster.

ranwhenparked > facw 07/21/2020 at 20:34

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That’s really beautiful, I’d say it would look great around a fireplace, but then it’d be hard to keep if you moved. 

ranwhenparked > OPPOsaurus WRX 07/21/2020 at 20:47

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There was a lot of resistance, more in the United States than in the UK (big surprise there), and mainly from places in Florida (again, huge surprise) concerned that shutting down nightlife would hurt tourism, as if rationing and the draft weren’ t enough take care of that, anyway. But, there were strict legal penalties for violators, and wardens did patrol neighborhoods to check compliance. There was no “I have a doctor’s note that says I need to leave my porch light on for reasons”, or “strongly recommended that you block your windows, but you don’t really have to if you don’t want to” stuff, it was a rule, and it was rigidly enforced by law enforcement.

But, of course, the truth is, blackouts were marginally effective, at best, since navigators mainly used rivers and bodies of water . It was really about boosting morale with a shared spirit of sacrifice among the civilian population, and getting civilians used to obeying orders, in case more urgent emergency regulations were required later. At least in the UK, where aerial attack was the main issue, it probably helped more in the US and other places outside of Axis air range, where coastal bombardment from U-boats  was the more serious threat.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ranwhenparked 07/21/2020 at 21:26

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Oh yeah and don't talk about how deadly the Spanish Flu is because our enemies might realize we are vulnerable. In the meantime, stop holding funerals.

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > ranwhenparked 07/21/2020 at 21:56

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I’m optimistic. After these shenanigans I think we could all use a flight somewhere away for a week, toss our screens aside and just enjoy life as they did back then for those 7 days. I need an escape from watching this tug of war to the S outh.

I spent many days peering over the railings of ships and seeing almost nothing but blue and listening to waves hit the hull with the murmur of the engine and fans in the background . It always cleared my head like meditation and allowed me to think in retrospect. I could probably use a screen detox, I think a lot of people could... If I didn’t have to deal with emails this week I probably would .

ranwhenparked > Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com 07/21/2020 at 22:32

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Unless they decide to quarantine people from my state, I'm considering renting a cabin in the National Radio Quiet Zone for a week in August and just dropping out for a bit.

pip bip - choose Corrour > ranwhenparked 07/22/2020 at 03:41

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scary to think that really

facw > ranwhenparked 07/22/2020 at 07:23

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Also, since this got me thinking about passenger liners, I see that the oldest passenger liner still in service, the MV Astoria (which entered service in 1948 as M/S Stockholm) may have sailed it’s last passenger voyage. It was planned for retirement in October, and obviously hasn’t been taking passengers anywhere recently due to covid . Apparently it did try to leave the UK, but was stopped because the owners hadn’t made arrangements to repatriate trapped crew.

Obviously it’s been significantly rebuilt over its 72 year life.

It had that long life despite sustaining significant damage in a collision with the Italian liner Andrea Doria off Nantucket in 1956:

The larger Italian didn’t do quite as well:

ranwhenparked > facw 07/22/2020 at 08:12

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Yes, that’s really a shame. Cruise & Maritime Voyages went broke and shut down, they had some of the best ships in the business. The 1990s rebuild transformed it into a really elegant little cruise ship. But, small size/poor economies of scale, lack of private balconies, etc meant it was already uncompetitive in the modern industry and had moved around a lot between different cruise lines over 25 years.

Probably the end for Marco Polo, the ex Soviet liner Alexander Pushkin, as well. Unlike Astoria, she's still on her original engines from 1965. Of course, the ice strengthened hull could be a unique enough selling point to find a new home.