A rescue operation interrupted Queen Mary 2’s voyage from New York to Southampton ahead of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Southampton.
On the eve of the Jubilee Celebrations in Southampton, I was kind of glued to MarineTraffic to check for the ships progress, as I planned to get up and out early for their arrival at Hythe Marina. I certainly was surprised when the ship map indicated she stopped at Start Bay off Dartmoor. I quickly checked with my liner friends, last thing we wanted to happen was a technical failure preventing her to arrive together with her sister ships but when the map showed an RNLI boat close to Queen Mary 2 it became evident that a medical evacuation took place.
AIS indicated that an RNLI boat pulled up to QM2 – Thanks Tee Adams for getting this shot when my internet went down.
It was the second medevac Torbay RNLI has carried out from Queen Mary 2. The first was on her Maiden Voyage in January 2004.
The facts gathered from the RNLI website:
Torbay lifeboat crew were launched to rendezvous with the passenger vessel Queen Mary 2 on the evening of 4 June as she was on her way to Southampton for a historic meeting of the three Queens (Queen Mary II, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria) to mark the Diamond Jubilee.
The crew carried out a medical evacuation and the casualty was transferred from Queen Mary 2 to the all-weather lifeboat and was then met at Kingswear by an awaiting ambulance.
The launch instruct was given at 19:49 BST, launch time 20:01, ready for service time 22:33. All Weather Lifeboat (ALB) 2012 Shout #23. Coxswain Mark Criddle, Mechanic Simon James.
Despite the rescue op, Queen Mary 2 arrived in Southampton on time, leading the three Cunard ships into port.
The evacuation was filmed by RNLI crew member Nigel Millard, a great video showing the evacuation. I also found a video on YouTube by a passenger, so here we have 2 different views of the operation:
Slideshow with excellent photos by Nigel Millard:
A passenger on board Queen Mary 2 was in the perfect spot for the onboard view of the operation:
Cunard Queens 