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98-042 "Queen Mary - Enter the New Ocean"
1998, Acrylic on Illustration Board

This image shows the Queen Mary rounding the tip of south America on her journey to California and her new home in Long Beach. The date is November 19, 1967, and marks not only her first moments in the eastern Pacific ocean, but her most southerly position in 31 years of service. No city on Earth, in fact, lies this far south, and the stars above her are tilted at an angle that only penguins and Antarctic whales normally see. Look for the southern cross in the milky way above her masts, and the nearest star, Alpha Centauri. A full moon, off screen behind the viewer, casts a shadow of the foremast across the bridge. The brilliant star like object at left is the planet Venus. This unusual geographic and stellar situation in the Queen's career was a happy accident for me - I had chosen to show the ship on this date as it was the night my local astronomy club was founded, and we were having our 30th anniversary banquet aboard the Queen. When I found that by coincidence it was THAT night that she'd rounded Cape Horn, I was enchanted by yet another odd coincidence, the sort that has long given the Mary a reputation for good luck.

Chris Butler