QE2 runs aground on final voyage

by Dave Keating | November 11, 2008 at 03:49 am

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The Queen Elizabeth II oceanliner from the UK is about to be put into retirement. But on its last voyage it ran into some trouble off the coast of Southhampton, becoming trapped on a sandbank. The boat is set to become a floating hotel in Dubai.

It was hardly the most regal moment in the QE2's glittering career when the supreme luxury ocean liner ran into a sandbank off Southampton this morning on its final voyage before metamorphosing into a floating hotel in Dubai.

But the embarrassment was merely fleeting as the ship, which has carried royalty and Hollywood stars, as well as millions of less famous passengers, docked just 25 minutes late at the port, where the Duke of Edinburgh led the farewell ceremonies.

A Cunard spokesman said the ship had been pulled off the sandbank. "No one on board has been injured. A lot of people will have been in bed when it happened and not have noticed."

The QE2's final departure from British shores will be accompanied by solemnity as well as pomp and ceremony. To mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the first world war, a Tiger Moth plane dropped 1m poppies on the 70,000-tonne liner, which served as a hospital ship during the 1982 Falklands war.