‘Adventures on the Queen Mary … Tales of a Teenage Crew Member’ is a unique memoir written by a (then) young man who was a lower level crew member on the ocean liner  RMS Queen Mary – my favorite Ocean Liner! The unique title and strange layout caught my eye… So how was it?

A Little History…

RMS Queen Mary  is probably the most important Ocean Liner in history. This impressive 1,000 plus foot long ship was beloved by the public on both sides of the Atlantic and played an important role in troop transport during World War II.  She went on to serve Cunard for years until her retirement. 

She is also my very favorite Ocean Liner – I was even lucky enough to stay on her as a kid (the ship was then a floating hotel in California)way back when she was owned by Disney and the Spruce Goose was housed next door!

In my adult years I had mostly forgotten the experience until one day I was watching a video on Queen Mary 2 and the memories came flooding in like a wave of nostalgia!

It’s interesting how memories that we haven’t thought about a lot can be very clear when you suddenly remember them, and that’s how Queen Mary was for me.   Ever since then it’s rekindled my interest in Ocean Liners and the culture and history around them. 

The Book

During her post-war glory days a young man named Dave Wooders served on the crew in various roles and shares his stories in this book, published in 2015. 

The book is only available in softcover and is curiously sized at 7 by 9 inches.  I somewhat pessimistically thought the book might be a cheap cash grab, thrown together without much substance but I was pleasantly surprised after reading it – I really enjoyed it. 

When I get a new book I’ll always give the pages a flip to see what’s in it… and I saw lots of interesting pictures in full color and black and white including lots of new images provided by the author himself.  It looked surprisingly dense so I made some English tea to set the mood and started reading…

I very much enjoyed this book – it was an intriguing look at the life of a crewmember on board the Queen Mary and provided many “behind the scenes” looks at life on a Ocean Liner of this era. We’re all very fortunate Dave took the time to get this written down because I think it’s an invaluable bit of Ocean Liner history. 

The book was written by Dave Wooders with the assistance of James Radford, who is credited as the co-author.  It’s an easy  read and is almost entirely written as though it’s a transcribed interview with Wooders conducted by Radford, which does make for a somewhat different read. 

Once I got into the groove of it I found it quite an easy read, almost like having a conversation with Wooders.  By the end you feel as though you had a warm and pleasant conversation with the man about his life, and his time on the Queen Mary.  

It is literally packed with interesting bits of history both from the Queen Mary and society and the world in general in the early 50s.  

One interesting bit I enjoyed was a very brief discussion of a few of the gay crew members on the Queen Mary – a subject that, then, would have been very taboo – and the generally accepting and positive attitude on board the ship.  Honestly quite surprising and something that isn’t discussed much in Ocean Liner history!

Later in the book Dave recounts revisiting the Queen Mary with his wife and family at the ship’s new home in California, as well as going on Queen Mary’s successor, the Queen Mary 2 (where he even got to meet Commodore Warrick!)

Is It Worth a Read?

I think this book is an invaluable bit of ocean liner history and a truly novel and interesting take on the Queen Mary from a perspective I haven’t seen before.  I found the format initially strange but eventually it turned into a very cozy and personal memoire.  If you are interested in history and especially the Queen Mary or the post war period of Ocean Liner business from the UK to New York, this book is great. 

Where to Read

You can get the book on eBay as well as Amazon for a good value.  There are some used copies out there, but I think it’s nice to buy directly from the authors for more niche books like this!  

When I bought mine I actually contacted James Radford through Amazon and requested an autograph which he happily provided, as well as a little conversation – I encourage you to reach out to him if you decide to buy a copy.  I believe this is available from him on eBay as well!   It’s not a regular thing to be able to communicate directly with the author like that, so it was a charming touch. 

Queen Mary Today

Miraculously, the Queen Mary has been saved from scrapping, the fate of most Ocean Liners.  You can relive her glory days yourself by visiting this great ship in Long Beach California where she’s spending her retirement, having been converted into a hotel/convention center!

Lately the city of Long Beach has retaken control of the ship, and the results have been very impressive as they have started spending money restoring her properly.

There is a unfortunate trend of ‘influencers’ making videos morbidly claiming that she is haunted, and this has led to a deluge of very low effort, vapid videos using the ship as a backdrop. One of my favorite YouTubers  “Big Old Boats” has made an excellent video all about the Queen Mary that I highly suggest watching (consider watching the rest of his videos too if you like it!)