Like many things with Flynn there is yet another mystery and more questions …
To whit: In about 2011 I contacted the Queen Mary concerning the cabin that Errol stayed in during his trip to Spain to cover the Spanish Civil War and he was aboard ship with the erstwhile sinister Hermann F. Erben. Erben kept notes about his travels in a notebook and some of these notes were published in Josef Fegerl’s red covered book.
In the book, Erben notes that Errol stayed in M 38.
So I wrote to the QM and asked them if the room was still there. They replied that M38 was changed to M012 and still existed. When I visited the ship I went to look for the cabin and found it. I did not knock on the door, fearing somebody would be disturbed. Later, I found evidence that M38 was indeed changed to M012.
So what is the mystery?
Well, if you look closely you will see in that Erben wrote: M 38 not M38 … When I asked about the cabin location I asked in my email about M 38, too. With that space between the M and the 38 …
But the answer I got I think now was about cabin M38 and not as I have discovered in a different map: M038 … see in yellow on the left side of this map of M Deck.
Then I found this old map: if you look at the far right side below, you see that what is listed as M2 in yellow above was M038 (below) …
So, was Erben referring to M038 and leaving out the 0 when he wrote “Errol in M 38” ??? Did he put in a space between M and 38 to denote the number M038?
Here is where M038 is located now listed as M2 …
In 1997:
And M2 is up against the wall of the Mauritania Room on the Queen Mary. But, hold on … there is more! I found a video tour on YouTube of M Deck by Lake Nipissing and it showed the hallway leading to the M2 cabin in my maps. I left a comment explaining the mystery I was trying to solve and in a short time, Lake replied to my comment! 
Whoa! Not only did Lake go check things out, but created a short video showing the room as it is today (3-6-30) and there was a surprise.
youtu.be/r494DY87mE0…
Lake says: Since the door ventilation grille is covered over, this room was remodeled in 1999 and will have a drywall vs. original wood ceiling, the punkah louvers will not be functional, and the bathtub surround will now be tiled instead of the gray/white marble pattern Formica on wood. There is a conversion list on a Queen Mary website which can help: www.sterling.rmplc.co.uk/webdrive/mcabins.html…
Correct: Cunard M2 = Long Beach M038 . . . Cunard M38 = Long Beach M012
Both of these rooms are active, with the card reader door locks. They are facing the parking lot, though, and not the harbor.
Do we know for sure which room Errol was in? M38 or M 38 (M038) ???
Tis a mystery still …
Thanks, Lake … you are the best!
— David DeWitt
