A Sovereign for the Queen
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uoyed by encouraging
financial results for the past year, shipping company Sea Containers feels that it's got a quid to spare — it's bidding just that to bring the luxury liner Queen Mary back home to Britain from California.
Sadly, the company appears to have no intention of adapting the ship to expand its roll-on roll-off service. Instead, there are plans to turn it into a floating hotel.
The company has offered the city of Long Beach a gold sovereign for the former Cunard flagship. The Long Beach authorities originally paid Cunard $3.45m for the ship in 1967, and has spent a $66m on to it.
Sea Containers argues that the ship is worthless as scrap and calls on American sentimentality to make it "a gift from people of Long Beach to the people of Britain". However, a Japanese consortium is offering $23m for the ship. Anyone willing to bet on the outcome?
by the Hawk