Personanondata | Michael Cairns on Publishing and Technology

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Floating Wreck: HMS Queen Elizabeth 1 Hong Kong 1972

Floating Wreck: Queen Elizabeth 1, Hong Kong Harbor 1972

A weekly image from my archive. Click on the image to make it larger.

In addition to the images I've posted on Flickr and those I've periodically posted on PND, I have now produced a Big Blurb Book: From the Archive 1960 -1980 of some of the images I really thought were special.

Another old liner photo but this time a more ignominious end to the star of the Cunard line HMS Queen Elizabeth. The ship had been sold by Cunard and was being refit in Hong Kong as a floating university. The work was almost completed when a fire broke out and the ship was completely destroyed. The ship then lay on its side in the harbor as seen here for months while the owners haggled with the insurance company over what to do with it. This image was taken six months after the fire (and I wasn't on this trip) but I recall seeing the wreck several months later (October) when I visited Hong Kong on my way back to New Zealand.

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Michael Cairns

I am Chief Revenue Officer at SharedBook, an innovative new education company located in New York. I have been an Adviser to SharedBook since early 2010. In early 2011 we launched AcademicPub.com a publishing platform that allows faculty and educators to create custom course materials for their classes and students.

Previously I was Managing Partner of Information Media Partners, my own business strategy consulting practice focused on helping publishing and information companies invest in their future through content management, product development and/or mergers and acquisitions. My career spans a wide range of publishing and information products, services and B2B categories and my operating and consulting experience has largely been with brand-name publishing companies such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Macmillan, Inc., Berlitz International, R.R. Bowker and Wolters Kluwer.

I have served as a board member of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and in addition to my responsibilities at R.R. Bowker, l also served as Chairman of the International ISBN Executive Committee.