Final Departure Festivities

LONDON–Undaunted – and, apparently, undented – the glittering luxury liner Queen Elizabeth II survived a close call with a sandbank yesterday, adding one final treacherous twist to a remarkably storied career as it said goodbye to Britain forever.

Blown off course by heavy winds, the QE2 ran aground on the approach to its home port at Southhampton, where a regal farewell reception awaited before the ship sails onward to its afterlife as a floating hotel in Dubai.

Five tugboats raced to free the stranded vessel, which carried 1,700 passengers returning from the Cunard Line flagship's final Mediterranean cruise. The ship was refloated and sailed into harbour on its own power.

"She didn't want to come in," pensioner Shirley Newcombe, who was on her 10th voyage aboard the QE2, told Agence France Presse. "That's the opinion of quite a few of us on board. She doesn't want to go to Dubai and we don't want her to go."

The bittersweet festivities at Southhampton, led by the Duke of Edinburgh, included the airdrop of one million poppies on the 70,000-tonne liner, in remembrance of the QE2's role as a hospital ship during the 1982 Falklands war.

The next photo is Britain's Prince Philip reacts to a blast from the ship's fog horn, as he is driven away following a visit to the liner Queen Elizabeth 2, in Southampton

The fireworks were one of the best I have seen

Final Departure Festivities

Titanic Engineers Memorial, none survived, which is why an engineer's gold braids are separated by purple, the royal color, on order of the King following the disaster and a tradition which continues to this day.

Armistice Day, November 11, 2008. Off to Southampton

Archaeological finds suggest that the area has been permanently inhabited since the Stone Age. The Romans established a gateway settlement known as Clausentum, shortly after their invasion of Britain in AD 43.

Viking raids from 840 onwards contributed to the decline of Hamwic in the 9th century and by the 10th century, a fortified settlement, which became Medieval Southampton had been established.

Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, Southampton became the major port of transit between the then capital of England, Winchester, and Normandy. Southampton Castle was built in the 12th century and by the 13th century; Southampton had become a leading port.

In 1348, the Black Death reached England via merchant vessels calling at Southampton.

The town was sacked in 1338 by the French, including the pirate Grimaldi, who used the plunder to help found the principality of Monaco, and who are still there.

The port was the point of departure for the Pilgrim Fathers aboard the Mayflower in 1620. In 1912 the RMS Titanic sailed from Southampton. Many of the crew on-board the vessel were Sotonians, with about a third of those who perished in the tragedy hailing from the city. Southampton was subsequently the home port for the transatlantic passenger services operated by Cunard and their Blue Riband liner RMS Queen Mary and her sister ship RMS Queen Elizabeth, and of course QE2.

Dinner with a Royal Marine