Some that slip away from Southampton, not to return, are now just fading memories but there are others, no longer with us, that will never be forgotten.

Ships are a vital part of the life of Southampton, the port is after all one of the key reasons for the city's very existence and over the years some vessels have become very special to local people.

So it is with the great Cunarder, Queen Mary, for some Southampton's most loved liner, a ship that is anchored in a special place in the city's heart.

It was in 1967 that Queen Mary left her home port of Southampton for the last time but many living in and around the port still have affectionate memories of the great liner.

These days her old decks are warmed by the Pacific sun in Long Beach, California, where she spends her retirement as a tourist attraction, conference centre and hotel.

Getting on for 70 years ago, Queen Mary was just setting out on a career that was to become a sea-going legend both in peace and war.

Now these early years of her working life are recalled in a new book, RMS Queen Mary, The First Decade: 1936 - 1946 by Les Streater.

Packed with scores of photographs and illustrations of the vessel, the liner's art deco splendour and the passengers together with even menus and advertisements for the ship, the book highlights the elegance, style and glamour that were the bywords for Queen Mary.

Although dubbed the Wonder Ship, Queen Mary was not without its problems, and one of the most concerning was its notorious characteristic of rolling in bad weather.

"The weather in the North Atlantic during the autumn and winter of 1936/37 was some of the worst on record,'' says the author. "In late October a particularly bad storm hit Queen Mary for two days, when the extent of the rolling problem first seriously manifested itself.

"The roll was of a very disturbing pattern, both for the crew and passengers. Queen Mary would begin to roll, stop as if to correct herself, then, instead of returning, would continue to roll. After a further stop, she would slowly start to come back up, before rolling the other way.

"The first major storm she met caused her to roll 14 degrees either way - bad, but much worse was to come. Later in that winter she met a tremendous hurricane in mid-Atlantic: some reports stated that she rolled an unbelievable 44 degrees either side of vertical.

"Rope restraints were hurriedly put up in the main corridors and doorways, but these did little to help the terrified passengers. None of the furniture had been bolted down at this stage. Heavy settees not only slid, they rolled over and over, tables crashed into each other, even the grand pianos careered about the saloons and disintegrated.''

The book also recounts the ship's invaluable role during the Second World War when she served as a troopship and when peace returned she carried thousands of GI brides to their new lives in the USA.

By the end of the conflict Cunard calculated that Queen Mary had carried a staggering 765,429 service personnel over almost 570,000 miles.

The book has appeared at an appropriate time as the name Queen Mary is again in the headlines, this time in connection with Cunard's vast 150,000-ton liner, Queen Mary 2, now under construction in France and due to make her first appearance in Southampton at the end of this year.

Although at the leading edge of ship design, echoes of the former Queen Mary and Cunard's heritage will be seen everywhere on the new ship. In fact the voice of the old vessel will also be heard as QM2 has been fitted with the original Queen Mary's whistle, now reconditioned and restored, which is so powerful that it is audible for ten miles.

QUEEN MARY FACTFILE:

Owners: Cunard

Builders: John Brown, Clydebank

Maiden voyage: May, 1936

Length: 1,019ft

Width: 118ft

Keel to masthead: 234 feet

Gross tonnage: 80,774 tons

Passengers: Cabin Class: 740, Tourist Class: 760, Third Class: 579

Officers and crew: 1,101

RMS Queen Mary, The First Decade: 1936 - 1946 is published by Tempus Publishing and costs £16.99.