Adventures On The Queen Mary by Dave Wooders

Adventures on the Queen Mary by Dave Wooders, James Radford ISBN-13: 0998877665544 Paperback: 274 pages Publisher: The Perfect Page Released: January 14, 2015

Source: ebook review copy through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
Take an exciting trip back in time to the Golden Age of Ocean Travel on board the world's favorite liner -- the RMS Queen Mary. Enjoy a visual feast of new and archival photographs, many never before published. At 16 years of age, in 1957, Dave Wooders worked as a bellboy and, later, as a commus waiter on the Queen Mary!


My Review:
Adventures On The Queen Mary is a memoir about working on the RMS Queen Mary as a teenager. Dave Wooders joined the crew in June 1957 and worked on board her until 1959. This book is a collection of stories written down by Dave Wooders and loosely organized by James Radford. It reads like an older relative reminiscing about his fondest memories at a family gathering.

We're told about his various jobs (mostly as bellboy and commus waiter) and about the Queen Mary itself but also about the famous people he met and what the crew did in their free time. We're told about the things they did on board and on shore leave for entertainment, the clothing they bought, the things they brought back home to England from America, dating while being gone from his girlfriend so often, and what storms at sea were like. There were many interesting photographs of the RMS Queen Mary (inside and out) and of Dave Wooders (when on the crew and more recently).

He also talked about his other sea-going jobs and briefly about his life after he quit in Oct. 1961. He also made some trips to visit the Queen Mary after she was retired and made into a hotel. There was a reunion held on board, then he took his wife to see it, and then his sons. Some of the stories told earlier were retold in full here as he showed people the spot where the story happened. Dave Wooders' fondness for the ship and excitement of being at sea shine through in the stories. Overall, I'd recommend this book to those interested in what working on the RMS Queen Mary (and other ocean liners) was like.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.