How Ghosts Killed the RMS Queen Mary

Queen Mary today is a ghost ship the famed Queen Mary is in trouble many people believe that this cruise ship is haunted this is [Music] so there's a question that's been bothering me lately how did the Queen Mary go from this thousands cheered waved sang and wept as the old luxury lady headed for retirement to this was that behind us yeah there's something in the room what was that is any of the crew back there a marine survey found the ship needed more than 300 million dollars in estimated total repair oh my God Queen Mary prepares to say farewell to England forever aside from the Titanic the Queen Mary is arguably the most influential and recognizable ocean liner to ever sail the Atlantic throughout her decades-long career she was considered by the Rich and Famous to be the only way to cross the Atlantic and when she reached the end of her celebrated life with Cunard something unheard of happened she was saved but the Grandeur of her former life is long gone in her future it's very much in doubt so how did we get here [Music] but before we dive into things let's take a quick moment to talk about this video's sponsor Masterworks gas prices have skyrocketed and vehicle insurance is on the rise if we can learn anything about the story of the Queen Mary it's that high maintenance assets can slowly become liabilities normally to keep it from syncing your bank account you'd make up for these costs in other ways like investing but in 2022 even the usual Investments aren't staying afloat mortgage rates have hit a 20-year High the stock market had its worst first half since 1970 and inflation hasn't soared like this since 1982. as a result institutions like Goldman Sachs have been quietly transferring 30 to 50 percent of their capital from traditional Investments like stocks into alternative assets like Fine Art when the markets are spiraling alternative Investments like Fine Art tend to retain their value during the great inflation of 1973 to 1981 art prices appreciate 17.5 percent annually on average according to the MWR index that's more than real estate in most stocks in the same time period in fact over the last 26 years Contemporary Art prices have outpaced the S P 500 by 131 percent and the market still heating up Morgan Stanley reports the average painting is selling for 26 percent more at auction than this time last year but there's just one problem who do you know with 8 million dollars laying around to buy a painting lucky for you there's a better way I'm thrilled to introduce our latest sponsor Masterworks with Masterworks you can invest in Fine Art household names like Picasso Basquiat and Banksy at just a fraction of the cost in six of their last seven exits Masterworks returned over 20 percent net returns to their investors including a sale as recently as early October for a 21.5 percent net return and they're just getting started over 500 000 people have signed up so far and there is a wait list but my subscribers can skip that list by clicking on the link in the description below alright let's get back to the Queen Mary isn't this pathetic it has its grammar aspect also Britain depends on her seaborne traffic [Music] ocean liners have a shelf life as time passes they fall out of fashion as passengers move on to new miners with new features and amenities maintenance and operation costs amount is what was once state-of-the-art becomes old and tired and eventually even the most beloved liners go to the scrap yard and turned into something more useful the old joke was that they returned into razor blades the Mauritania was the pride of the British Merchant Fleet she held the blue ribbon for two decades but when the economic winds shifted even the Beloved Mauritania became Expendable despite pleas from influential people like U.S President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who begged to save her ultimately these pleads were ignored the Mauritania was scrapped in 1935 along with another great the RMS Olympic Titanic's nearly identical sister imagine if a carbon copy of the Titanic was around today but ships become Expendable and the Olympic was sent for scrap even though her engines were said to be as sound as ever at the end of the day she became just another outdated British liner but somehow the Queen Mary was different launched on September 26 1934 the Queen Mary had reached 30 years of service by the mid-1960s while jet travel was still relatively new its impact on the industry was Swift and as you probably already know the 1960s saw a rapid decline in passenger numbers on the North Atlantic routes the Queen Mary was not just an outdated ocean liner she was an outdated mode of transportation on many voyages she carried fewer passengers and crew and by 1965 the once wildly profitable Cunard line was operating at a heavy loss their greatest assets the mighty Queen Mary and her sister Queen Elizabeth were now their greatest liabilities and plans were well underway on a modern new queen that could replace these aging liners and Claw passengers back to Ocean Travel with a modern and costly Queen Elizabeth II under construction the cash-strapped Cunard line was faced with the question of what to do with the legendary Queen Mary foreign [Music] Beach Battalion of the Grenadier guards arrives for The Changing of the Guard in April 1966 the q9 announced that they would soon retire the Queen Mary several scrap yards submitted offers to purchase the liner but the winning bid came from a surprising Place Long Beach California Cunard was happy to save the Beloved liner from the scrapyard but they were also pleased that it happened to be the highest bid money was the motivating factor not preservation that was just a happy bonus the Queen Mary sealed her last transatlantic Voyage on September 27 1967. over the course of her long career she carried over 2 million one hundred and twelve thousand passengers and traveled an astonishing three million 792 227 miles October 31st 1967 she left Southampton for the long Voyage to her new home in Long Beach where she would undergo extensive renovations to convert her into a floating hotel and Museum almost everything below her C deck was removed including her boiler rooms forward engine rooms turbo generator rooms stabilizers and her water softening plant only her aft engine room and shaft alley were preserved for the museum her funnels were removed to complete these Renovations and it was quickly discovered that they were so decayed that they had to be scrapped and replaced the majority of her first-class staterooms would be converted into hotel rooms in her lounges and dining rooms became banquet spaces many public rooms such as their drawing room library and music studio were all stripped and turned into retail spaces none of her tours class second class or crew cabins were preserved clearly the changes were extensive and much of the liner's original fittings were lost forever the ship was opened for tours on May 8 1971. while the ship was owned by the City of Long Beach her museum restaurants and hotel functions were contracted out and operated by three separate companies her 400 000 square foot museum space was occupied by the Jacques cousteau's Museum of the sea which opened its doors to the public on December 11 1971 with only a quarter of its planned exhibits ready on opening day the living sea Museum was never popular with guests and for some reason they had a hard time keeping the fish alive the attraction would soon close only a few years into Operation Pacific Southwest Airlines would operate her hotel functions her first 150 rooms were open for booking on November 2nd 1972 and would expand her full 400 room capacity over the next two years in 1974 her hotel functions were taken over by Hyatt Hotels who would operate the facilities until 1980 and her restaurants were operated by the Los angeles-based specialty restaurants a company that operated a number of themed restaurants in Southern California while the Queen Mary initially attracted a large number of guests eager to see the historic minor interest quickly waned and by the late 1970s the attraction was losing Millions every year splitting operations among three operators was proving unsustainable and it was decided that a single operator with more experience would be needed luckily Jack rather a local millionaire who owns several properties including the Disneyland Hotel soon entered the picture he loved the historic liner that he and his wife Bonita sailed on many times the two had fond memories of his ship and they were eager to save her the rather company signed a 66-year lease and took over operations of the full property they soon brought in Howard hughes's Spruce Goose housed in an impressive geodesic dome and made other improvements to the property these efforts paid off and the Queen Mary appeared to be on the path to financial stability but then in 1984 Jack rather died the rather company continued to operate the Queen Mary until 1988 when the company was purchased by the Walt Disney Company eager to finally own rather's Disneyland hotel while the Queen Mary was never marketed as a Disney attraction the powerful Entertainment Company assumed operations and they would soon unveil an ambitious plan for the historic ocean liner and the surrounding area so we need to be very very careful tonight because these are real ghosts and they may be looking for a way out is the restaurant open as Disney took over the Queen Mary attendance was once again slumping while some attempt was made to capitalize on the ship's glamorous past the company put most of its efforts into their plans for an ambitious 443-acre attraction called Port Disney the Marine themed amusement park would feature numerous retail and entertainment venues a marina a cruise port and several new hotels the Queen Mary would be a centerpiece of the new park around this time stories of ghost sightings and Paranormal Activity began circulating among the people who had worked on the ship during her nearly two decades in Long Beach in Disney never wanted to miss a business opportunity soon began operating ghost tours these tours proved highly popular the port Disney project soon faced Fierce local opposition and plans for the new park were eventually canceled in December 1991. Disney recognized that without a significant Redevelopment of the largely industrial area around the Queen Mary the attraction had almost no hope of financial success in 1992 the company ended its lease and the historic minor was closed to guests at the end of that year but she wouldn't sit empty for long in 1993 a group called the RMS Foundation took out a five-year lease on the property the group was formed exclusively to Save the Queen Mary and reopened her to the public which they did over the next year but they would soon succumb to the financial strains of running the property this began a long period of revolving operators over the next two decades as various groups attempted to run the hotel and attraction to various levels of success in 2007 her lease was sold to a group called Save the Queen and a number of badly needed upgrades and Renovations were conducted to preserve the ship and improve her accommodations in restaurants by now the Queen Mary's reputation as a haunted destination was garnering national attention she was featured in Time magazine's 10 most haunted places and she began appearing on several television specials on ghosts in the Paranormal in 2016 a real estate company called Urban Commons bought police and assumed operations this marked a change both in how the historic liner was maintained but also in how she was marketed to the public the company had an ambitious plan to transform the surrounding area into an extensive entertainment and Retail complex and they began raising the funds necessary to finance the project these plans seem promising but then in 2017 a scathing report was issued on the condition of a ship it was found that she was deteriorating at an alarming rate her hole was in terrible shape and her engine room spaces were at significant risk of flooding neglect throughout the rest of the ship was also cited the engineer who conducted the assessment said that she was in the worst condition he had ever seen in his 25 years of experience and without a significant intervention the ship would soon become unsalvageable the report concluded that it would take an estimated 300 million dollars to properly repair and restore the ship 27 urgent projects were identified including removing her rotting lifeboats which had become a significant safety concern the City of Long Beach gave Urban comments 23 million dollars to fund the repairs and in 2019 they warned the company that it was failing to uphold its obligation to maintain and repair the ship and they threatened to put their 66-year lease in default in response the company released an updated repair plan with five to seven million dollars allocated toward addressing the most critical issues throughout all of this the Queen Mary was now being heavily marketed as a haunted destination numerous daily ghost tours were offered in a yearly haunted house attraction called Queen Mary Star Carver was introduced in the early 2010s this seasonal event turned the parking lots in the ship itself into haunted mazes walk around attractions with scare performers and numerous other immersive experiences the supposedly haunted stateroom b-340 was open for booking and its supposed grisly pass was heavily promoted to further publicize the ship a number of ghost hunting TV shows and YouTube channels were given free reign to film on board the Productions ranged in their professionalism and their treatment of the ship in her history in 2018 and 2019 the Queen Mary quickly became a YouTube Trend with almost every channel with any kind of paranormal Focus filming videos all over the ship and to put it mildly these videos don't exactly make her seem like a nice place to stay no this is terrifying and that gets us to My overall issue with this strategy many historic locations offer ghost tours or include some kind of ghost story in their regular tours people love this aspect of history and they find it compelling I myself am a big lover of ghost stories and all things spooky but turning the Queen Mary into a floating haunted house directly conflicts with the business model the ship depends on at the end of the day she needs people to book hotel rooms and dine at her restaurants her hotel rooms are priced at a level where guests will expect a certain level of comfort in amenities in the Years preceding the pandemic the Queen Mary was heavily portrayed as a rundown old ship with a bunch of YouTubers running around making ghost videos it was not portrayed as a luxury destination this is in direct contrast with the operation and marketing of other preserved ocean liners that have also been converted into hotels the Rotterdam and the Queen Elizabeth II are both marketed as a high-end opportunity to experience the old world glamor of Ocean Travel this oh wait is that the maids quarters that's my literal nightmare doesn't exactly scream high-end travel destination and unless you're an ocean liner or paranormal Enthusiast why would you book a room on the Queen Mary for your vacation playing up the Paranormal to attract guests is not an inherently terrible business model the Winchester Mystery House is a great example of a historic property that has leveraged the mythology around the Mansion to attract public interest but there are a few key differences the Winchester Mystery House uses those funds generated to maintain the property and importantly the property isn't a luxury hotel they aren't asking you to spend the night there and charging you luxury prices for it I genuinely believe that it is possible to operate the Queen Mary successfully but I think it requires a significant investment in the ship in the surrounding area and for years quick profits have been prioritized over long-term investments in preservation and this is just my theory but to me it seems that it was easy to let the ship fall into a state of disrepair because it fit the haunted theming that was so heavily promoted if the ship was a clean and well-maintained luxury destination it would be a lot harder to make it seem spooky and making it seem spooky is a lot cheaper and easier to pull off the repairs were terrible they had to be redone over and over they weren't done properly many of them weren't done at all the Queen Mary closed its doors to the public in March 2020 you all know why as of the making of this video she is yet to be reopened in the past couple of years the deplorable condition of the ship has once again gained International attention Urban Commons has since filed for bankruptcy and control the property was returned to the City of Long Beach and has since been turned over to the city's Harbor Department fortunately the city seems committed to saving the ship and funds have been allocated toward the most critical repair projects the city plans to reopen the ship to the public as soon as possible but an exact day has yet to be released the story of the Queen Mary's retirement is a depressing tale of cut corners and mismanagement from her initial renovations to her conversion into a haunted house attraction time and time again many of her operators show little interest in preserving and sharing her history with the world they instead sought to use her as a tourist trap in order to make a quick buck whether this continues is yet to be seen at the end of the day ships are just objects they have meaning because we give them meaning and that meaning will change over time as we move on and lose interest historic preservation is hard and maintaining an aging super liner is all the more difficult there's a reason why so many historic places are operated as non-profits the people who inherit these spaces need to love them they need to be willing to invest money back into the property not just their wallets but if there's one lesson from the Queen Mary's long career it's that she's a Survivor and there are people out there who love her and are dedicated to keeping her alive nearly all of our treasured ocean liners are gone but she remains I have faith that she will be saved and I can't wait to one day pay her a visit [Music] foreign thank you so much for watching this one was a little bit different so I hope you all liked it I'm certainly not alone in loving the Queen Mary and wanting to see her survive so I would love to know what you think down in the comments below don't forget to like And subscribe while you're at it thank you again to Masterworks for sponsoring this video I'd also like to give a huge shout out to my incredible supporters on patreon YouTube is now my full-time job so your support and these sponsorships not only keep this channel alive they also keep me from having to turn myself into a cheap haunted house attraction alright crew that's all I've got until the next one be nice to people [Music] you like this boat yo yes we wrecked him

Channel: Big Old Boats

Views: 200,704

Keywords: queen mary, rms queen mary, haunted queen mary, ghost ship, haunted ship, ocean liner history, ocean liner, great ocean liner, long beach, cunard, cunard line, queen mary ship, the grey ghost, ghost hunting

Id: 8OKnyk281OY

Length: 19min 8sec (1148 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 29 2022