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Captains Stephen Burgoine of P&O's flagship ARCADIA, Bernard Warner of Cunard's QUEEN MARY 2 and Michael Fatchen of Princess Cruises' PACIFIC PRINCESS become senior masters of their fleets.
Burgoine, 58, undertook his merchant navy academic studies at HMS Worcester at the Thames Nautical Training College before joining P&O Cruises in 1966 as a deck cadet sailing on Soudan, Ballarat and Chusan.
Burgoine is a Member of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation. He has also been made a Freeman of the City of London.
Warner has been Master of Cunard's flagship Queen Mary 2 since June 2005 He has been at sea for forty years and in command for the past twelve years. Fatchen, a 40-year veteran of Princess and P&O, will take command of the new Royal Princess when it debuts in April. He joined P&O Orient Lines as a fourth officer in 1966.
The story goes that in 2003, maritime historian Maxtone Graham asked Cunard why they no longer had the grade of Commodore. After some deliberation, they promoted Captain Ronald Warwick in December 2003, as I assume it was good for publicity? The previous incumbent, William E Warwick’s (Ronald’s father) was promoted to Commodore in 1970.
Now we have three.
quote:Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:Interesting!The story goes that in 2003, maritime historian Maxtone Graham asked Cunard why they no longer had the grade of Commodore. After some deliberation, they promoted Captain Ronald Warwick in December 2003, as I assume it was good for publicity? The previous incumbent, William E Warwick’s (Ronald’s father) was promoted to Commodore in 1970. Now we have three.
Actually Cunard had two Commodores between the two Warwick's. Doug Ridely in the late 1980's and John Burton-Hall in the early 1990's.
Brian
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In the twenties and thirties Cunard Commodores were customarily knighted and some of these were larger than life characters who made headline news.
Commodore Sir Arthur Rostron (Commodore 1928 - 1931), for example, had been master of the Carpathia when, in 1912, she sped through an icefield in the dark to rescue all the survivors of Titanic.
Commodore Sir James Charles (Commodore 1921 - 1928) was noted for the magnificence of his dinner table while commanding Aquitania and Mauretania. The menus often included whole roast oxen or small herds of gazelles, surmounted by hillocks of foie gras decorated with peacock feathers; champagne was served in jeroboams and soufflés were the size of chef’s hats. Confectioners spent hours creating centre pieces in carved ice or spun sugar: on one occasion an electrically operated and illuminated Battle of Waterloo display was carried in to the sound of the ship’s orchestra playing Elgar.
And as reticent as Sir James was expansive was Commodore William Turner, who had been in command of the Lusitania when she was torpedoed in the First World War. He disliked the social side of his job so much he would excuse himself from dinner at the slightest hint of fog in order to escape the first-class passengers. But the passengers loved his gruff manner, and many would only travel if he was in command.
Commodore Sir James Bissett (Commodore 1944 – 1947) commanded Queen Mary during the war when she carried 15,000 GIs at a time to Europe, dashing unescorted at over 30 knots – far faster than the U Boats that sought her. But Bissett complained that the ship ran the risk of capsizing as the troops all moved to one side on sighting land.
Commodore Sir Ivan Thompson who captained the Queens in the 1950s was a fanatical Liverpool Football Club supporter. As soon as the results came in over the radio, they were sent to the bridge. If the news was bad, officers knew to keep out of his way for the rest of the day. Yet when the Queen Mother joined the same Commodore for dinner on board Queen Elizabeth in 1954 there was not an empty seat in the dining room – even those who were normally late for dinner scrambled to be seated in time.
Recently history was made when Captain Ronald Warwick succeeded his father, Commodore W E Warwick, as fleet Commodore in 2003 – the only ‘father and son’ ever to hold the position.
quote:Originally posted by Brian_O:Actually Cunard had two Commodores between the two Warwick's. Doug Ridely in the late 1980's and John Burton-Hall in the early 1990's. .
I stand corrected!
quote:Originally posted by mike sa:One for each brand.
So the other Carnival brands don't get Commodores!
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