The Queen Mary - Meant to Be

 

22^nd July 2021

Dear Mayor Garcia,

 I was truly disturbed to hear in recent news that the scrapping of The Queen Mary was still an option. Whereas it pains me even to think of this there are still two courses of action that should be placed before the city. One would be to fill the ship’s enclosure with something like sand or concrete which would prevent it from sinking. The second would be to open the enclosure, and tow the ship out to see where it could be made into a reef. 

The first option is one that would need to be taken up with an engineer. I would have to think that sand would be your cheapest solution, but once it’s in there is no turning back. Getting it out would be more costly than water. The most expensive and best option would be to turn the enclosure into a dry dock. This would come with its own technical issues. However, the ship would be preserved as a hotel. It would simply no longer be a floating hotel.

Towing the ship out to see and dedicating it as a reef would be a risky proposition, but it would better the environment and keep it as some kind of tourist attraction. Divers could still visit the wreck, and it would still bring some money into Long Beach. Moreover, it would be a small push against global warming and you would save face over scrapping her.

Keeping the ship above water is going to be a battle involving creative ideas, setbacks, innovation, and lots of money. Losing her would be crippling to the legacy of whoever signs the papers that let her go. The vast changes to tourism needed to make The Queen Mary hold water as an investment in Long Beach would be a good thing for the city, but, well, maybe it’s just not meant to be.

Best,

 

Richard Leland Neal