MEDWAY QUEEN (1924)

Service dates: 1936-1964

Official number: 148361

Shipping lines: NEW MEDWAY STEAM PACKET COMPANY

Ship type:

• Paddle Steamer

Paddle Steamer.

Career

23.04.1924

Launched.

1924

Completed as Medway Queen for the New Medway Steam Packet Company Ltd.

31.12.1936

Takeover of the New Medway Steam Packet Company Ltd by The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company agreed.

1937

Attended the Coronation Fleet Review for King George VI at Spithead.

1938

Converted to an oil-fired steamer by Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company.

1939/1945

Requisitioned by the Royal Navy as a minesweeper for service in the English Channel.

1939

Evacuated Kent children to East Anglia.

1940

Made seven trips to France during the Dunkirk evacuation to rescue 7,000 British servicemen. It was a record number of crossings by a civilian ship involved in the evacuation. She managed to gain four awards for the gallantry and shot down three enemy aircraft. In view of her remarkable achievement, she earned the title of ‘The Heroine of Dunkirk’.

1942

Converted to a mine sweeping training ship and served out the war in this capacity.

1946

Rebuilt by Thorneycrofts of Southampton and returned to commercial service in 1947.

1953

Attended the Coronation Fleet Review for Elizabeth II at Spithead.

1963

Taken out of service and scheduled to be scrapped in Belgium. The shipbreaker declined to continue once he learned she was ‘The Heroine of Dunkirk’.

n.d.

Sold for use as a nightclub in the Isle of Wight. She was moved to the River Medina where she was sunk by accident.

1984

She was purchased by private owners in the aim of preserving her. The ship was eventually raised and towed back to the River Medway. The plans fell apart and she sank again in 1985.

2009

Presently being reconstructed and will be the only estuary paddle steamer left in the UK.

Ship technical details (PDF)