When they introduce the senior officers at the captain’s reception on a cruise ship, most people have a good idea of what the hotel manager or the chief engineer does. However, the role of the staff captain onboard is not as immediately clear. The closest analogy would seem to be to the executive officer on a warship but that is not an exact fit. Since it is the number two position on the ship, I thought an article about what being a staff captain entails would be in order.


To find out what the position entails, I say down with Trevor Lane, Staff Captain on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2. Trevor has had a remarkable career. In addition to being the navigator on the legendary Canberra during the Falklands War, he has served on a wide variety of ships ranging from the Orsova to the Caribbean Princess. Moreover, given the prestige and size of Queen Mary 2, I felt that a description of the duties of the staff captain on that ship would encompass pretty much all that the position entails on other ships.

Trevor did not disappoint. Bright and articulate, he gave a concise but through description of his various responsibilities. In addition, he spoke from a personal view point so there is the human element as well. The resulting article can be found at http://beyondships.com/QM2-lane.html

In addition, I have posted a retrospective article about QE2 that was recently published in the Navy League Log. In it, I wrote about the ship’s career and gave some anecdotes that I came across during my 70-odd voyages on that ship. http://beyondships.com/QE2-farewell.html

Finally, for those interested in military ships, I have posted an article about the amphibious assault ships USS Nassau and USS Bataan. http://beyondships.com/USN-Nassau.html

Renewing Queen Mary 2

Passenger ships periodically return the shipyard for refits. These respites from cruising breath new life into worn areas, allow the line to fix broken parts and provide an opportunity to upgrade the technology and/or the features used by the passengers. However, not much is written about what goes on during refits.

Queen Mary 2 (“QM2”) did a refit at the Bolm + Voss Repair drydock in Hamburg, Germany during three weeks in October and November of last year. The ship is now five years old and various laws require inspection and maintenance of various areas. In addition, Cunard Line took the opportunity to counteract some of the wear and tear that results from carrying thousands of passengers week after week Finally, some of the technology and the public spaces were altered in order to keep the ship top-of-the-line.

I had the opportunity to talk with Staff Captain Trevor Lane about the refit shortly after QM2 returned to service. Captain Lane as second in command of the ship and head of the Deck and Navigation Departments is uniquely situated to talk about what was done to the ship. It was a busy three weeks and much was done to the ship that may escape the eye of the casual observer.

My article about the refit is posted at http://www.beyondships.com/QM2-refit-1.html.