The Maiden Voyage of Luxury Liner "QUEEN" - In Remembrance | LMAC Collage FreeStyle No. 89

The LMAC Community run by @shaka holds a weekly collage contest round for its members. In the Community, you'll discover a variety of themed contest entries submitted for consideration. If selected for the final round, contest hopefuls anxiously await results indicating where their placement that determines the prize amount. It's a fun contest that any Hive member can participate. If you'd like to join in, just visit the LMAC Community account here and follow the rules of the contest for details on the latest contest.

The LMAC Community also offers an opportunity for members to create and post in the Community "freestyle" collage themes. In the freestyle option, more freedom is allowed to design your creations without having to incorporate the weekly contest photo. However, contest rules still apply.

For my Freestyle Collage No. 89, my theme is remembering the maiden voyage of cruise ship Titanic that sank on April 15th, 1912 with my version starring the Vessel, "Queen".

She was opulent. She was one of a kind. Twenty years of planning went into the design of the most famous ship to cruise the waters of the world. "Queen" was its name. And it was touted as the most luxurious and safest vessel ever built. No wonder it captured the world's attention. Built in 1907, Queen was a foreign vessel.

Queen was massive. Its dimensions were 850 feet long, 82 feet wide, and weighing 42 long tons. It was 155 feet tall from the keel to the top of the four funnels. Thirty feet of the vessel was below the waterline.

Desiring to be the first to experience all the cruise ship industry had to offer, thousands of well-to-do tourists booked their passages months in advance of the vessel being built.

The captain and crew were selected from the best seafarers.

The Queen set sail on a beautiful wintry day with no expectations other than to provide its passengers with the most unique experience as it headed out on its maiden voyage. Everyone celebrated as the Queen departed. The sail-a-way went smooth. They prayed their voyage would be successful.

Passengers were treated to exquisite dining and decor. Luxury cabins made each comfortable. Several ports of call were scheduled for their adventures.

Later, wonders of nature rose from the sea never before seen were spotted from one of the ten decks. As the evening sun cast long shadows on the icy, blue-gray water, passengers gathered to watch. Birds hovered over as though blessing the voyage.

The sea and sky were calm as the night's sky cast a soft glow upon the water. The pale crescent moon shone like a silver and ebony cup of cappuccino pouring forth its cascading waterfall in the night sky. Passengers still awake glanced up at the blanket of stars that stretched across the far horizon.

Among them, Henri and Elizabeth McHenry watched in awe this being their first cruise. He'd booked the voyage to celebrate their fortieth wedding anniversary. Shivering, Henri wrapped the thick coat around her shoulders and hugged her tight. That signaled it was time to retire, so they retreated to their cabin and readied themselves for bed, having experienced the most wonderful night.

They had no idea that just outside their cabin on the port side of the vessel, events were unfolding that would change the course of not only their and other passengers' lives, but history itself.

It was the sounds of calamity one hears when objects are breaking that woke them.

Suddenly, the bed slid across the room. With nothing to hold on to, their bodies were tossed against the cabin window.

"We're tilting Henri! Something is wrong," his wife shouted.

"This shouldn't be. This vessel is new; the best built in the world," Henri replied in a shaking voice.

"Let's get out of here," Elizabeth shouted, holding her hand against the wall.

But they couldn't. They bodies were pinned between the bed and cabin window. Try as Henri could, he was unable to move the bed enough to free his wife.

Meanwhile, outside their cabin, there were people everywhere in the chaos.

As the ship ventured deeper into open sea, suddenly a portal opened. No one aboard the ship noticed, not even the captain until it was too late to respond.

Finally, the captain reacted. But even his expertise couldn't prevent what he saw as his ship veered toward the opening hole. Nothing he did to correct the ship's course worked as all instruments failed.

And his ship was headed directly into the black hole. He and all his passengers wer at the mercy of the trembling volcano in the sky.

People panicking on all decks ran from bow to stern and from starboard to port in the midst of the calamity. People huddling close together with their loved ones. People frantically clutching the rails holding on as if they knew their lives depended on it. People tearing at each other for positions in line at the lifeboats. People too frightened to move remained in their cabins hoping all would be well.

Overtaken by the chaos, people jumped overboard from the sides of the vessel into the icy waters below praying to avoid parts of the sinking ship and hoping to swim to safety.

But just as remaining onboard was as dangerous as slipping into the freezing waters below, people cared not as they only fought to survive that which they didn't understand was happening.

In an instant, the wind howled like an injured wolf and gripped the bow of the vessel in its jaws.

Slowly, the wind intensified as if claws dug in and tugged at the vessel. A thunderous crunching sound ensued, tossing and twisting the ship until it snapped. Fire and steam escaped the vessel's inner pipes.

As the noise subsided, an eerie quiet consumed the crowd. Suddenly, the noise reverberated, and the stern of the vessel slowly descended into the depths of the ocean. Passengers in the rear of the ship were pulled underwater with its force.

The top half of the ship near the bow was now free. Quickly the wind sucked it and the passengers in the front of the ship into the angry funnel's void, never to be seen again.

The lifeboats, rafts, and safety equipment were able to save some passengers as they watched from the boats afraid to assist others in the water else they be sucked into the black void if they ventured too close.

The passengers and crew had no idea what fate held in store for them on that day in April, 1912.

In the aftermath, several passengers who survived the ordeal submitted eyewitness statements reported seeing the vague outline of a enormous sea creature in the shape of a mermaid. With fire in her eyes, she first blew the ship off course toward the portal. A powerful hand reached from inside the black hole and grabbed hold of the Queen's bow.

Others discounted this, stating with uncertainty that the shape of the monster appeared more like Loch Ness. Still others chimed in that it was definitely a seventy-five foot anaconda.

Of course, we all know that mermaids don't exist. And the other explanations were documented and ultimately dismissed as traumatized recall that was undoubtedly at play.

When all was over, 1,750 of the passengers, including Mr. and Mrs. McHenry, had lost their lives. Although the vessel contained the number of required lifeboats, only 50% capacity was filled. More people could have been saved.

In remembrance of the TITANIC. To date, this incident was the most deadliest.

CRUISE SHIP DESIGNS

In preparing my theme for the freestyle collage design of the Queen luxury liner, I upload my images to Canva. It's my design program I use to blend my images. Below are the procedures I use that incorporate the tools at my disposal in my Annual Pro Membership Subscription.

I utilized the LMAC Contest Photo Round 207 that included buildings and a faint outline of a ship named "Queen." My idea blossomed to focus on the ship.

^Source

QUEEN With Blue Maiden

Item	Contributor	Source
Ship	LMAC Contest Photo (Round 207)	Link
Blue Maiden	Pixabay	Link
Tulip	Pixabay	Link
Photo Montage cup waterfall	PxFuel	Link
Boy splashing in water	Pixabay	Link
Dance of Life	@alex2alex	Link
White gull in flight	@redheadpei	Link
Black Butterfly	Pixabay	Link
Purple flower	@drydia	Link
Ball Public art at "The Egg's Costumes" Garden in Holon	@alex2alex	Link
Yellow Flower	@rappler	Link

QUEEN With Golden Maiden

Item	Contributor	Source
Fantasy portal	Public Domain Pictures	Link
Woman with silver hair	PxFuel	Link
Colorful Fish	PurePNG	Link
Woman pointing	@alex2alex	Link
Gray Half Moon	@redheadpei	Link
Dolphins	@poderart	Link

Thanks for your visit. I appreciate it. I hope you like my freestyle collage theme.