One by one the great ocean liners -which once carried the prestige of nations with them - have vanished from the north Atlantic. The ss United States, the fastest of them all, rusts slowly away in a naval dockyard in Virginia; the Michelangelo has made her final voyage from New York to Genoa; the France is laid up in Le Havre, her future a mystery; the Queen Mary is anchored for ever at Long Beach, California; and the Queen Elizabeth, the greatest liner ever built, lies a burnt-out shell at the bottom of Hong Kong harbour. All these, and many more, have been unable to bear the burden of inflation, the rocketing cost of fuel, the competition of the big jets. Only the QE2 has managed to survive and prosper, the last of the great ships on the Atlantic run. Long may she sail, but for just how long is there a future for the Ships of State like her? Producer JOHN PERCIVAL
