…Brian C., for correctly identifying the painter as Pieter Bruegel. The painting is called “Mad Meg” and it’s based on an episode from Flemish folklore where an army of women march into Hell and start pillaging.
Congratulations to Brian, who gets a box of virtual cookies for his efforts!
Today ended up being a very happy day here at Casa Loch. Earlier in the week, I won a set of deck plans from the SS France on eBay and they just came in the mail. I’m thrilled to bits; not only did I snag a great deal, but they’re even more incredible than the photos led me to believe.
And here’s a photo of the exterior of the ship:
The France is one of my all-time favorite ocean liners. At 1,035 feet long, she was the longest passenger ship in the world at the time of her construction (a record she held until the construction of the Queen Mary 2 in 2004). From the beginning, she was heavily subsidized by the French government, who hoped that she would become an oceangoing showcase of Gallic culture and design. But when she entered service in 1962, the transatlantic passenger trade was already in decline. Her owners, the French Line, increasingly used her for cruising during the off season, but, like many ships built for the transatlantic run, she wasn’t well suited to sunnier climates. She had little open-air deck space, and both of her swimming pools were indoors. Still, she remained a popular ship, and she continued to sail for the French Line until 1974, when the rising price of oil forced the French government to stop subsidizing her (the funding went to the Concorde instead).
Instead of going to the scrappers, the France received a second lease on life when Norwegian Cruise Line made her their flagship with the new name of Norway. She sailed for NCL until 2003, when a boiler explosion forced her withdrawal from service. By that point, it would have been prohibitively expensive to repair her, and in 2005 she was sold for scrap. By 2008, this grande dame of the seas was no more.
I’m not sure why I like the France so much. Her decor was very much a product of the 60s, and that sort of sleek modernism isn’t usually my thing. But her exterior was amazing (despite the silly little wings on her funnels!), and to me she epitomizes the lean look of a transatlantic greyhound. I wish I could have had the chance to sail on her, and it’s really too bad that she couldn’t live on as a museum ship like the first Queen Mary. At least I now have these deck plans to remember her by.
Codex Lochianus 