It was a day of celebration and sadness but above all there was the feeling of great pride as Southampton said a final farewell to the legendary liner, Queen Elizabeth 2, yesterday.

She will not pass this way again and, as the ship’s twinkling lights gradually disappeared into the evening darkness, suddenly, after 40 years, QE2 was gone, leaving an ocean of memories in her wake.

Throughout QE2’s long sea-going career the great Cunarder sailed to all corners of the globe but at the end of every voyage she always returned to South-ampton. Although her familiar shape will now never be seen again on the dockland skyline, the city will always be able to proudly boast it was home to the most famous ship in the world.

At every vantage point along Southampton Water and the Solent thousands of sightseers came out to witness QE2’s historic departure while a flotilla of small boats, yachts, ferries and pleasure craft bobbed in the shadow of the liner’s towering shape.

For many people who could recall watching QE2’s first arrival in Southampton back in the 1960s, her leaving was almost too much to bear. The ship, which became so much a part of local life, took her leave and began the one-way journey to the oil rich Middle Eastern kingdom of Dubai where she will undergo a multi-million pound conversion into a floating hotel and entertainment complex.

After a day-long series of events, including a visit from the Duke of Edinburgh, the time for QE2’s swan-song arrived and the inevitable could not be put off for any longer. High up on the bridge the liner’s master, Captain Ian McNaught ordered the mooring ropes to be cast off and the vessel eased herself away from the quayside.

Slowly and sedately QE2 made her way up river and came to rest off the packed waterfront of Mayflower Park where the crowds heard a personal message from Captain McNaught relayed on a giant screen.

A short but spectacular firework display filled the night sky with resounding explosions as the decks of QE2, her rails lined with hundreds of passengers, were lit up by showers of sparkling colour.

The actual moment of departure, captured in a rash of camera flashes, was heralded by the deep, booming sound of the liner’s powerful whistle echoing time and time again in a last salute to Southampton.

This was the moment for a last goodbye and with her usual style and grace, QE2, almost imperceptibly at first, moved forward and began her final journey destined to take her far away from Southampton’s familiar waters to a new life in Dubai.

QE2 leaves behind a unique record of service that includes sailing almost six million nautical miles, completing 806 Atlantic crossings from Southampton to New York and back, carrying more than 2.5m passengers, undertaking 25 circumnavigations of the globe and answering her country’s call as a troopship during the Falklands conflict of 1982.

Today QE2 is at sea, powering her way through the waves of the Bay of Biscay stretching her sea-legs for one final time, and doing exactly what she does best, a true ocean greyhound, unequalled in history.