Mementos in the ‘Queen Mary’
2 November 1967
Among a display of mementos aboard the ‘Queen Mary’ when she left Southampton on Tuesday on her last voyage was a photograph of two small boys and their winning entry in this year’s Ryde Carnival.
Capt. J. Treasure Jones, 1966
They in turn have photographs of the ship signed by the skipper, Capt. John Treasure Jones.
This sentimental “swap” came about when Mrs. Phillis Downer, of “Upton View,” Nettlestone sent a photograph of her grandsons, Kevin, aged two, and Mark, five, children of Mr. and Mrs. Downer, of 12 Monterey Road, Ryde, to Capt. Jones. The picture showed the boys, in captain’s uniform, with their 6ft. long model of the ‘Queen Mary’ which won first prizes in its class in all three of the carnival processions.
The entry, mounted on a go-kart, was built by Mrs. Downer’s son at her suggestion. Its title was especially apt: “Farewell, Fair Lady.”
Mrs. Downer told an “I.W. Times” representative: “I thought no more about having sent the photograph, until Capt. Jones replied. He sent a souvenir photo of the ‘Queen Mary’ mounted in a card showing her last route, plus two coloured pictures of the ship for Kevin and Mark. Each was signed ‘Well done.’”
Notes:
Captain John Treasure Jones RD. (15 August 1905 – 12 May 1993) was a British naval officer who became a well-known media figure in the mid-1960s following his appointment as the last master of the Cunard liner, RMS Queen Mary. He has been described as one of the 20th century’s most distinguished mariners, in war and in peacetime. His forebears were men of the sea.
RMS Queen Mary is a retired British ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line and was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. On October 31st. RMS Queen Mary left Southampton for the last time, bound for a new life in Long Beach, California.
Sources: IW Times & Wikipedia
Images: Wikipedia
Article: Ann Barrett