It was evening and all was quiet in the Southampton offices of ferry and tug company Red Funnel when suddenly the telephone rang and an anxious voice on the other end said: “Queen Elizabeth has touched ground. Send all available tugs.”

With just these nine words one of the most challenging recovery exercises ever seen before in the port of Southampton swung into action.

The date was Monday, April 14, 1947 and Cunard’s 83,000 ton liner Queen Elizabeth – then one of the most famous ships in the world – was making her final approaches to Southampton Water, after a transatlantic crossing, when she ground to a halt on the Bramble Bank and became stuck fast.

The incident was recalled this week when the huge vehicle carrier Hoegh Osaka dramatically beached on the underwater obstacle in the Solent and listed dangerously on her side in one of the Europe’s busiest shipping lanes.

The stricken 51,000 ton vessel is now at the centre of intense activity as experts plan the delicate operation of recovering the ship and her £30m cargo of luxury cars and heavy construction plant.

Back in 1947 the technology available, both on board Queen Elizabeth and the craft sent to her rescue, was nowhere near as sophisticated as today’s equipment and techniques which will be used to refloat Hoegh Osaka.

Instead Queen Elizabeth was forced to rely on the pure muscle power of a fleet of tugs to push, pull, nudge and cajole her free of The Brambles.

News of Queen Elizabeth’s predicament spread like wildfire through Southampton and soon thousands of sightseers flocked to the shoreline to catch sight of the giant liner languishing on the sandbank.

About a mile off shore, the lights of the liner and those of the tugs circling the Cunarder lit up the night sky as Queen Elizabeth lay on an even keel, her massive bow pointing towards Southampton Docks while passengers could be seen strolling on the decks and waving to the crowds on the shore.

As soon as the alarm was raised the Red Funnel tugs Clausentum, Canute, Neptune and Vulcan were dispatched to the scene, together with Romsey, Hornby and William Poulsom from the Alexandra Towing Company.

For some time the combined forces of these craft tried to move Queen Elizabeth but she remained resolutely stuck on the sandbank overnight.

By first light the following day a further nine tugs, some from as far away as Portsmouth, were on the scene ready for the first attempt at moving the liner which was due to begin at 6.45am.

“Three blasts from the liner’s sirens as a signal that she was trying to move astern denoted to watchers on the Calshot shore that the effort had begun,” reported the Daily Echo.

“It continued for nearly ten minutes, but the liner remained stationary.

“Black smoke which belched from the funnels of the tugs at the stern drifted over the liner’s superstructure. The refloating efforts were continued at brief intervals, the tugs regrouping around the liner from time to time.

“The throb of the liner’s powerful engines came over the water as she tried vainly to free herself in conjunction with the efforts of the tugs.”

Daily Echo:

All through the day there was a constant stream of traffic bringing people to see the giant liner resting on the Brambles. At one point personnel from the nearby RAF station at Calshot had to be used to control the amount of cars crammed along the shore.

“Although the wind has been chilly, a good number of people have sat on the beach enjoying a picnic luncheon and watching the liner,” said the Daily Echo.

Daily Echo:

Finally, at 8.40pm, with the combined might of 16 tugs and the liner’s own engines, Queen Elizabeth eased herself off the Brambles after being stuck for 26 hours.

Unfortunately her troubles did not end there, as she was unable to make the passage up Southampton Water due to the area being cloaked in thick fog.

Most of the 800 first-class passengers, including actress Beatrice Lillie, had already been disembarked and taken to Southampton by the Red Funnel paddle-steamer Solent Queen and the Southern Railway vessel Merstone.

By the time Queen Elizabeth came alongside her berth in Southampton Docks, between 9pm and 10pm on Wednesday, April 16, about 1,500 passengers were still on board.

A team of two Southampton divers, Bob Smith and Frank Poole, was sent down 30 feet to carry out a close inspection of the liner’s hull but no damage was discovered.

Master of Queen Elizabeth, Captain C M Ford later said: “In calculating the swing into the channel, you have to keep headway on the ship in order to make your turn. On this occasion the ship did not respond, even with the action of the propellers to assist.”

The following Saturday, April 19, Queen Elizabeth set sail for another trans-Atlantic crossing to New York at an average speed of more than 28 knots in the hope of making up the lost time she had spent on the Bramble Bank.

Launched in September, 1938, Queen Elizabeth remained in service until 1968 before being sold to a succession of buyers. Finally she was sold to a Hong Kong businessman who intended to convert her into a floating university.

In 1972, while undergoing refurbishment in Hong Kong harbour, she caught fire under mysterious circumstances and capsized.

The following year her wreck was deemed an obstruction, and she was partially scrapped where she lay.