ON the morning of Tuesday, April 3, 1934, the Glasgow Herald declared that it would be the most eventful day at the Clydebank yard of John Brown’s since December of 1931. That, of course, was when work had been suspended on the Cunarder No.534 - the Queen Mary, as it would be christened. “To-day,”the paper reported, “will see the end of all the rumours and counter-rumours that have punctuated the two years and three months of aimless idleness for so many thousand Clydeside craftsmen.” That day saw the first batch of 350 men returning to work on the 73,000-ton liner; by the end of the month it was expected that at least 1,000 men would be engaged on the task. Work had been suspended on the project because of the Great Depression. According to the Queen Mary website, the hull plating was 80% complete and the ship stood nine stories high. The liner was finally launched on September 26, 1934, by Queen Mary herself. “In exactly 54 seconds,” this paper reported the following day, “the greatest weight ever set in motion by human command was safely transferred from solid ground to the less stable element.” To the Herald, No 534 was no less than a “moving masterpiece in steel.”

In October 1967 the venerable ship made its final voyage, to Long Beach, California. Today the liner thrives in its stately retirement as a major hotel and tourist attraction.