The QE2 Story would like to thank Michael Gallagher for giving his permission to extract information from information he had compiled on refits and allowing us to make this information available on the QE2 Story Forum. Source: Michael Gallagher, Cunard PR Manager and Historian.
Timescale: 2
1/2 weeks
Date: 8 – 25 April 1974
Bermuda: 8 – 11 April 1974
New York: 13 April – 16 April 1974
Southampton: 4 days of repairs 20/21 April – 25 April 1974
Cost:It was estimated that the breakdown and emergency plans now had cost Cunard £700,000 ($2,000,000)
Captain: P Jackson
Background: Breakdown and EvacuationSaturday 30 March 1974: QE2 had left New York for a cruise to Bermuda with 1,648 passengers on board, including almost 800 senior citizens, and 1,041 crew. Rough Atlantic Seas prevented the pilot from landing.
Sunday 31 March 1974: Captain Jackson cancelled the obligatory lifeboat drill and advised passengers to stay in their cabins, because of the continued bad weather conditions and rough seas.
Monday 1 April 1974: at 04:00 hours QE2 came to a standstill in the water.
“
An alarm on an electronic probe designed to detect the presence of oil or other contaminants in the pure water of QE2’s boilers failed. The boilers consisted of an arrangement of hundreds of pipes through which the water passed.
A film of oil spread through some of these, and the furnace, instead of heating the water inside the tubes, heated the tubes themselves and damaged them. The propulsion system was shut down immediately before any further damage occurred. Boiler feed water has to be extremely pure - four parts in a million.”Although engineers worked hard to restore power by Tuesday 2 April Victor Matthews, chairman of Trafalgar House, Cunard’s parent company, sent a message to all on board, admitting the unlikelihood of restoring power at sea. “The odds of immediate success are not favourable” he predicted.
With the knowledge that the ship was 275 miles SW of Bermuda and nearest large tug was 600 miles away Captain Jackson put forward a rescue recommendation that was approved by Cunard.
3 April 1974: The Norwegian cruise liner Sea Venture (owned by Flagship Cruises) set sail from Bermuda to assist QE2 (Captain Torbjorn Hauge, was Master of Sea Venture).
4 April 1974: 0300 hours the Sea Venture arrived at the scene. At 0400 hours supplies and five boiler technicians were transferred to the ship. Between 07.30 hours and 15.39 hours a total of 1654 people (including 6 crew) were transferred to the Sea Venture to set sail for Bermuda.
QE2 Story Topic with discussions on this incident QE2 was then towed by two Moran tugs, Elizabeth Moran and Joan Moran to Bermuda for preliminary work to replace boiler tubes and flush the boilers with chemicals. However the 30 hours marathon journey was delayed near its end when the weather, which had held so providentially throughout the rescue, deteriorated: 12-foot seas prevented the tugs from reaching a safe anchorage for several hours.
Repairs in Bermuda:8 April 1974: "As QE2 and her entourage approached Bermuda on 8 April the pilot boarded and two more tugs, Bermudian and Faithful, came to assist in her passage through the Narrows to Murray’s Anchorage"
Cunard engineers along with five specialist from Houseman and Thompson Limited of Buckinghamshire had flown to Bermuda. The Buckinghamshire firm supplied 11 tons of replacement boiler tubes and ten tons of special equipment and chemicals to flush out QE2’s boilers. The plan was to circulate chemicals and solvent around the boiler and feed systems to remove contamination.
“Southampton’s Vosper Thornycroft had also played a part in the repairs when supplying the new boiler tubes. The shipyard obtained drawings of QE2’s boilers from Cunard’s Southampton offices and tubes were drawn from the firm’s store at Northam and cut to length and shaped at the Eastern Docks works. The 2½ inch diameter tubes were up to 26-feet long. Four tons of refractory mountings, clamps, welding equipment and stainless steel plates were also assembled for dispatch. The load left the Vosper Thornycroft works lass than 60 hours from the first call – work had gone on in shifts around the clock with 24 men being involved”
11 April, 1974: Preliminary repairs were complete and the boilers had been purged so QE2 was able to sail to New York at 16 knots using two boilers.
Repairs in New York“Further work at Todd’s shipyard involved 30 of her 3,000 boiler tubes being replaced.” On 16 April QE2 set sail for Southampton using two boilers (number 3 boiler was out of action)
Repairs in Southampton“
QE2 was scheduled for four-days of maintenance upon arrival. While in Southampton engineers continued to work around the clock trying to get No.3 boiler repaired, cleaned and tested before the next voyage. This boiler had suffered the worst damage by oil contamination in the emergency.
About 1,000 gallons of cleansing fluid was pumped round the boiler. To speed up the operation a hole was cut in the liner’s hull to allow a two-inch pipe to be connected from a quayside tank to the boiler.”
Return to Service“On 25 April 1974 she left for her scheduled Mediterranean cruise. During the cruise engineers had managed to return the ship to full power during the passage from Southampton to Naples. QE2 achieved 31 knots on a trial run, her fastest since she made her official trials six years earlier.”
