The Miscellany certainly lived up to its name, opening on a personal note with ships that Ray had sailed on starting with Medway Queen from Southend, through ferries arround the British coast, to troop ships during World War II and on to post war cruise ships.
Along the way we were shown many a passenger ship from the past hundred years. These were taken from Ray�s own photographic collection or were slides of postcards, many with a story to tell. Plenty of pictures of favourite transatlantic ocean liners from Britain, France, Holland and America were shown, followed by liners serving South America, Africa and Australasia, all but a very few, long gone to the breakers yard.
After the break Ray showed slides from a cruise that he took on Stephan Batory in 1981. Stephan Batory originally Maasdam of Holland America Line was built in 1952 and passed into Polish Ocean Lines hands in 1968. She sailed for POL until 1988 and was scrapped in 2000. The voyage was from Tilbury to Montreal and Quebec. A lot of interior shots showing the cabins and public areas of the ship were strangely empty, but when we saw pictures taken on deck the answer lay in the rather heavy weather. Ray reported a very happy ship with good facilities and food. Thank you Ray for sharing your show with us.