Ask Mr. Know-It-All: What do you know about Hong Kong’s maritime history?

Dear Mr. Know-It-All,
What do you know about Hong Kong’s maritime history? – Sea Bee

That’s not a question for 500 words, Sea Bee. But let me tell you about the RMS Queen Elizabeth—a proud icon of UK and Hong Kong history, in its own special way.

For 56 years, RMS Queen Elizabeth held the record of being the world’s largest passenger liner. She was 1,031 feet long and displaced over 83,000 tonnes of water—a very, very big boat indeed.

We're gonna need a bigger boat

Finished in 1938, the Queen Elizabeth made her maiden voyage in 1940, during the World War II. She spent the first six years of her life as a troop ship, ferrying soldiers around the globe. Winston Churchill said that with her sister ship the Queen Mary, she shortened the war by a full year.

After the war the Queen Elizabeth plied the waters between the UK and the United States. But with the advent of commercial air travel, ocean liners went out of style. The ship was retired in 1968 and in 1970 it was sold at auction. The winner? Hong Kong shipping magnate CY Tung.

CY Tung was the founder of the Orient Overseas Line and the father of former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. The “Onassis of the Orient” fiercely believed in the value of education, and he planned to convert the world’s largest ship into a floating university. He was fond of saying that ships could transport more than cargo—they could carry ideas.