In the history of passenger shipping, few companies can boast a longer or
more illustrious history than Cunard, and few vessels are as well known as
the line's flagship Queen Elizabeth 2. Commanding the QE2 requires a
special
Captain Warwick Click for full-size pic
kind of captain--one who can not only handle any seagoing situation
worldwide, but can maintain the bearing and the stiff-upper-lip tradition
that this prestigious job demands.
When the QE2 docked at Southampton on April 18 to disembark her British
passengers from an around-the-world cruise, Captain Paul Wright turned
command back over to Captain Ronald Warwick, who had taken the liner on
the
first half of the global voyage from Fort Lauderdale to Hong Kong. Captain
Warwick would take the ship on the final leg, from the U.K. back to the
U.S.
QE2 Click for full-size pic
Embarkation began shortly after 2 p.m., swelling the passenger list to
nearly
1,500--including many Americans who were on the last leg of the world
cruise,
plus a large number British, Germans and other Yanks making the year's
first
westbound transatlantic crossing. I was on the Boat Deck looking up at
Captain Warwick, his officers and pilot as the ship slipped her lines.
On this crossing to New York, the captain said that his ship would make
less
of a northward arc--the Great Circle Route--because of a large storm ahead
and drifting ice off Newfoundland. On previous December crossings, Captain
Warwick recalled, he has set an even more radical course change, first
going
southwest to the Azores to avoid a major storm, sometimes several in
succession. Even with this diversion adding over 200 nautical miles to the
voyage, the QE2's high speed and reserve power usually results in an
on-time
New York arrival. Once I was aboard when the ship made 31 knots.
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Captain Warwick looks every inch the quintessential British captain,
bearded
and ramrod straight, very much the man in charge. His father, Cunard
Commodore William E. Warwick, had commanded the QE2 when she was new in
1969,
retiring in 1972 and making the father-son combination unique in the
company's 163-year history.
The younger Captain Warwick went to sea in the late 1950s; his first
passenger ship was Royal Mail Line's handsome RMS Andes, the very British
equivalent to the Cunard's RMS Caronia, the 1948-built Green Goddess. He
took
to passenger ships, and one day in 1970 after visiting his father aboard
the
QE2 docked in the port of Kingston, Jamaica, he decided to join Cunard.
He was Chief Officer when the QE2 was requisitioned by the British
Government to carry troops and supplies in the 1982 Falklands Campaign following
Argentina's attack on the U.K.'s South Atlantic territory. He has lots of
memories from that voyage south, including the ship's conversion from the
brightest star on the ocean to the darkest: The vessel not only got a
military paint job, but had to transport troops without lights or the use
of radar, in order to avoid detection. The QE2 was an obvious enemy target.
Captain's Table Click for full-size pic
As the ship neared South Georgia, Chief Officer Warwick remembered mist
settling in over an ice field. When the radar was switched for safety
reasons, more than 100 icebergs could be seen, each large enough to sink
the ship. When the 3,000 British troops were transferred to P&O's Canberra and
Norland, the QE2 became the world's largest hospital ship, carrying 640
survivors--some badly injured--from three British navy vessels. Chief
Officer Warwick and the QE2 returned to Southampton on June 11 to a tumultuous
welcome, had a major refit, and resumed service in August 1982--still
painted gray. He said the hull color was difficult to maintain and within months
the color reverted to midnight blue.
His first commands were the Cunard Adventurer, Cunard Countess, Cunard
Princess (a favorite) and the Cunard Crown Dynasty. On July 26, 1990, he
had his first appointment to the QE2 following the retirement of Captain Robin
Woodall and became permanent captain in October 1997.
Captain Warwick is a Cunard man through and through. During his time away
from the ship, he researches the company's history; he said he has
reached the 90 per cent mark in documenting a list of all Cunard Line
captains since 1839. He is the author of 'QE2, The Cunard Line flagship
Queen
Elizabeth 2,' published by W. W. Norton. First published in 1985, the book
was updated in 1993 and 1999. The captain's editor is his wife Kim, who is
present on this first westbound crossing of 2002 and comes aboard as often
as
she can. Book signings are part of every crossing and cruise, and sales
are
invariably brisk.
The captain has a son and a daughter, and he officiated at the marriage of
the latter on October 4, 2001 in Boston harbor. This was the first legal
marriage in living memory conducted by a Cunard captain. His son does not
go
to sea except to dive to wrecks on the ocean bottom; he also maintains a
QE2
website.
On every voyage, the captain hosts a passengers' question-and-answer
session
in the Grand Lounge, and he is masterful in handling difficult questions.
When asked if the rumor was true that the QE2 had collided with a tall
ship
during the New York Harbor July 2000 celebrations, he simply said "No,"
and
that was the end of it. I was aboard then and can attest to the veracity
of
his answer.
Passengers' favorite questions are usually about the worst storm and the
roughest crossing. Captain Warwick said the most dramatic came during
hurricane Lewis (1996). The ship hove to, making 4-5 knots to maintain
steering into the mountainous seas, and he advised passengers to stay in
their cabins. The ship encountered a massive rogue wave, estimated at 95
feet
high--the same height from the ocean surface as eye level from the bridge.
According to the captain, the white cresting wall looked like the white
cliffs of Dover, and he turned aside in case the forward glass windows
gave.
They held, and a shudder went through the ship, but the only damage was to
the foredeck and a tripod mast at the bow. A less well-built vessel might
have been in considerable trouble with such a powerful force coming down
hard
on the forward part of the ship.
Another incident occurred in Milford Sound, a narrow fjord on the west
coast
of New Zealand's South Island. A squall rose as the QE2 entered the sound,
and the wind was so powerful that Captain Warwick could not reverse course
to
make for the open waters of the Tasman Sea. He remembers that the strong
winds actually caused the waterfalls along the shore to turn back upward
halfway down the cliff face. Finally, he found a relatively quiet turning
basin, and with the bow just 15-20 feet from the cliff face, he was able
to
safely turn his ship.
On our voyage, Captain Warwick talked about his adventure last summer,
when
he went two and one-half miles below the ocean's surface to the wreck of
the
Titanic in an untethered submersible. After 35 years sailing the North
Atlantic, he had a great interest in the loss of the Titanic, and landing
on
the ocean floor at the broken bow of the White Star liner was an emotional
experience for him. The submersible then traveled along the wreck's hull,
where he could see promenade deck windows and cabin portholes broken or
opened to allow some to escape. He noted that from disaster often comes
good--in the case of the Titanic, the creation of the ice patrol and the
"safety of life at sea" (SOLAS) regulations.
He thought that perhaps Titanic's Captain Smith had never known ice to be
so
far south when he sailed westbound for New York in April 1912. On this QE2
voyage, Captain Warwick had hoped to pause above the Titanic site in
remembrance of the tragedy 90 years ago. But once again, the ice had
drifted
far south into the shipping lanes, and he set a course to pass some 100
miles
south of the Titanic grave, which was 20 miles south of the nearest ice.
On Monday, April 22, 90 years and one week after the 1912 sinking,
officers,
crew and passengers gathered in the QE2's Yacht Club for a service to
commit
the ashes of former QE2 Chief Engineer William Farmer to the deep. Captain
Warwick planned the service, which included a prayer he wrote for the
deceased shipmate, who had been his mentor at Cunard until his retirement
in
1979. The congregation sang the hymns - "Abide with Me; Nearer Thy God to
Thee"; and the Sailors' Hymn - "Eternal Father, Strong to save...For those
in
peril on the sea."
As the ship steamed ahead at 25 knots in sheeting rain, William Farmer's
ashes, accompanied on board by his wife and daughter, were cast into the
sea
followed by wreaths and flowers.
Captain Warwick appears at two welcome cocktail parties, where he
introduces
his principal officers and says as little as he can about the
weather--especially if it is deteriorating. He saves that for his daily
noontime announcements from the bridge. He and his wife Kim host a table
in
both the Caronia and Mauretania restaurants, and the conversation is never
dull when the captain and Kim are in charge. His other public duties
include
appearing at an evening party in the Queens Room, a Cunard World Club
affair
for past passengers; and at other gatherings in his private day room, just
below the bridge.
The latter invitation is the most prized, and includes a private escort by
one's cabin steward as the route is complex and unfamiliar to many
passengers. Ship aficionados are always eager to see what new ocean liner
paintings may be hanging in the day room. Often they are by maritime
artist
Stephen Card, who earlier works grace F Stairway.
For the arrival into New York, I offered to give the commentary, and the
captain accepted and asked that I be on the bridge by 5:30 a.m., just
before
the ship would clear the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. It would clear the
bridge
by 52 feet, according to his calculations, but it appears much less. The
new
Queen Mary 2, on her triumphant first entry into New York harbor in April
2004, will clear by a mere 10 feet.
Captain Warwick hopes to be in command, and all he can say right now is
that
he has put his name in for the job. Then like his father, he would move
from
the older Queen to the newer one, a most fitting cap to an illustrious
career on the high seas.
