Sad day for CUNARD and Maritime History

CUNARD flagship was in Southampton yesterday for the last time as a British Merchant ship. QM2 will be registered in Bermuda as from the 1st of December, the ship left Southampton yesterday to Hamburg for a 14 days refit. 171 years of CUNARD ships having the RMS status simply vanished, sad chapter in Maritime History. Photo of QM2 in Liverpool last September

BARCELONA and CRISTOFORO COLOMBO

BARCELONA is probably not the place one expects to be connected with CRISTOFORO COLOMBO, after all he was born in Genoa, ITALY, he sailed in Portuguese ships from 1476 and 1478 he learned most of his navigation skills in PORTUGAL, married Felipa Perestrello the daughter of the Captain of Porto Santo in the MADEIRA archipelago, sailed from Palos, near Seville for his great enterprises, but one of the finest moments in his life came when he was at Seville in 1493 and received a letter from FERDINAND and ISABELLA confirming all his titles and ordering him to the court in BARCELONA where he was received honourably and was given charge of preparation for a second voyage, a voyage that would enlarge the area of discovery to include the entire Caribbean except the Gulf Coasts of Mexico and what is known today by U.S.A., also later in his life he was known as CRISTOBAL COLON the latinized version that was adopted by mainly English writters

SS "BISMARCK" OF 1914 ANOTHER GERMAN PASSENGER LINER THAT TURNED OVER TO BRITAIN AFTER THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

These last two posts are dedicated to German passenger liners that were acquired by Britain after the end of the first World War, the post below was the "BERENGARIA" built as the "IMPERATOR", this one is all about the originally built "BISMARCK" that was handed over to Britain after the end of the war for compensation of the sinking of RMS "BRITANNIC". Please visit my CRUISE SHIPS AND LINERS blog for further posts and photos of these amazing liners, postcards of my private collection, here with all the splendour the "MAJESTIC"

PO FERRIES keeps maritime history alive on board their ships

Praise for P & O FERRIES to keep maritime history alive on board their ships, even the brand new SPIRIT OF BRITAIN introduced in January this year, has a special panel dedicated to P & O and there are TV´s all over the vessel focusing on P & O history, very good to see, we won´t be able to understand the present without knowing the past, first photo on board PRIDE OF ROTTERDAM, second SPRIT OF BRITAIN, both early this year

VASCO DA GAMA AND NAZARE

A bit of history now, apparentely the portuguese navigator VASCO DA GAMA came to Sitio at Nazare to pray before and after his first voyage, promontory to commemorate the occasion and the Church at Sitio, magical place overlooking Nazare can be seen here, May 2011