Flagship

The 'Queen Elizabeth 2', flagship of the Cunard Line for almost 40 years. Seen here at Southampton Eastern Docks.
The vessel in the foreground, the 'Fairsky', had a varied career, starting life in 1941 in San Francisco as a cargo ship, but was built as an escort carrier and loaned to the Royal Navy as HMS Attacker. Converted into a passenger liner after the war, she is probably best known for the migrant passenger service between the UK and Australia, from 1958 to the early 1970s, after which she became an Australian based cruise ship. Her demise came in 1979 during refurbishment into a floating hotel/casino in Manila, when she was gutted by a fire. The wreck was eventually towed to Hong Kong for scrap.
June 1972. Scanned