Saturday May 4, 2024 – Southampton to La Coruña
Our first full day at sea aboard this new vessel. As I write this evening, we are still afloat and the engines are still going strong. The first of our nearly 2 months aboard the ship on this trip. There was a 1 hour ahead time change overnight. We awoke after a very restful sleep, very comfortable beds, we enjoyed breakfast in the foodhall and attended the first lecture by Peter McGowran – a Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) at the Tower of London. He rose to be the head of the group and retired last year. He is doing a series of chats on the life of a beefeater. This one was more to do with the history and how you become a Warder. One of the items is that you have to remember an 8,000 word script that you give to visitors, without any changes. We saw pictures of their private club , their gathering halls and some very interesting bits of information about the group of 45, mostly men although there are now a couple of women. He was also head of the chapel within the Tower for a few years and chief Raven Master – taking care of the 6 (actually 8 – 2 as spare) Raven birds that live within the Tower. It is said that if the Ravens ever leave the Tower, it will be the end of the Monarchy and the end of the world! He also explained about the 700+ executions that have taken place at the Tower of London over its 700 years including the 2 wives of Henry VIII. Some amusing anecdotes include the Black and Red uniform which they wear during their apprentice period costs STG 4,000 and the traditional red one STG 8,000; The fact that it used to cost STG 400 to become a Yeoman (now about STG 40,000) and that if you died in office, the initiation fee was kept by the Senior Warder, but if you retired from the job, you were given back your fee. Thus the toast “May you not die a Yeoman Warder”!!! After the talk I went up and spoke to him about the memorable experience I had in the mid 1960’s where Col. Watson, took me to dinner inside the Tower, to the home of the keeper of the Crown Jewelers – George Stilwell. We witnessed the ceremonial locking of the Tower (including the – “Who goes there / The Keys / Whose keys / the Queen’s (of King’s) keys”) interchange from inside the Tower. Also that after dinner, George Sitwell had taken me on a private (backstage) tour of all the alarm and security systems that kept the Crown Jewels of the monarch safe. This all has been totally upgraded and they are now kept in a different area in a vault inside the Tower and brought out for coronations or other such important events. He said he had not met him, but knew the name as it was engraved on a plaque within the tower together with the other keepers.
Next was the dual port talk of the two stops – La Coruña and Lisbon.
The keynote speaker of the morning was the sportscaster, who we had previously heard, Clare Balding. She spoke of her life as the daughter of a horse trainer (including the Queen’s horses) leading to a life in sports and the television.
The Captain’s noon watch comments indicated that we had travelled some 247 nautical miles from Southampton and had 328 nautical miles to go to La Coruña at an average speed of 19.6 nautical miles/hour.
After a nice lunch at the Golden Lion Pub aboard, we had a good siesta In the afternoon although Anne tried to go to the gym, but the waters were giving the ship a good shaking. The first formal dinner was started with champagne and we got the notice that the seating time had changed from 6PM to 5:30 due to the issues that were faced the first night. Things indeed were much better tonight. Bert Espínosa, a cabin steward who we first got to know in 2010 on the Queen Mary II and with whom we have remained in touch through texts and calls, is on board the Queen Anne, so called and came to our cabin. It was so much fun to see him and catch up with his family. His oldest child now has a wife and a 1 year old son; the second is through college and the third has 4 years of college to go. His youngest, special needs child, is still at home and doing well. We chatted for some time and it was great seeing him again. The evening show was a Noel Coward’s play – Brief Encounter – with 10 cast members and done brilliantly as if it was a movie.
Roger & Anne Travels 