HISTORY – The Luxury British Liner at the Bottom of Victoria Harbour

Buried at the bottom of Victoria Harbour remains the keel, hull and boilers from the QEII predecessor, RMS Queen Elizabeth. It was purchased at auction in 1970 by local tycoon C.Y. Tung and sank two years later following a fire. The burnt wreck capsized and was declared a shipping hazard. 45,000 tons were thus retrieved by Korean divers for scrap leaving around 40-50% of the wreckage on the sea bed. In the late 90s, a quarter of the remaining ship was buried during land reclamation for Container Terminal 9 with some being used for landfill in preparation for the new airport on Lantau.

The disaster held the dubious title of the largest passenger shipwreck until the Costa Concordia disaster this year. 5,000 highly collectable Parker pens were produced with material recovered from the wreck whilst the flag pole and remnants of her last ensign adorn the wall of the marine police HQ.

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The arsonists responsible for the fire were never identified…

She now rests peacefully under Container Terminal 9…

Footage of the ship from 1947…

• More about the ship here.
• The wreck as featured in James Bond movie ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’.