IT WAS all aboard at Easter 1956 as the steamer Queen Mary II set sail doon the watter from the south bank of the Clyde.

The ship, built in 1933 by William Denny & Bros at Dumbarton, was one of the finest excursion steamers ever built. Her steam turbine engines set new standards for speed, smoothness and comfort.

Her other claim to fame is that she was the "real" Queen Mary. She was renamed Queen Mary II when Cunard borrowed the Queen Mary name in 1934 for their John Brown-built ocean liner.

After she finally retired from Clyde service in 1977, the grand old lady enjoyed a second life as a floating bar and restaurant on the Thames in central London.

Sadly, today, she lies rusting and unloved at Tilbury Docks in Essex.