PS Medway Queen

PS Medway Queen was built by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company at Troon, Scotland, in 1924 for service on the River Medway and in the Thames Estuary. Trialled on the River Clyde, she was delivered to be part of the "Queen Line" fleet of the New Medway Steam Packet Company based at Rochester, Kent. She steamed on routes from Strood and Chatham, to Sheerness, Herne Bay and Margate in Kent, and to Clacton and Southend in Essex. The novelist William Matthew Scott was one of the earliest passengers on the Herne Bay–Southend route. On 3 August 1929, Medway Queen collided with Southend Pier, Essex, and suffered extensive damage to her bows. After attending the Coronation Fleet Review for King George VI at Spithead, Medway Queen was converted to oil-fired steaming by Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company in 1937. World War II Requisitioned by the Royal Navy on 9 September 1939, her first task was evacuating Kent children from Gravesend to East Anglia. She was refitted at the shipyard of the General Steam Navigation Company in Deptford Creek as a minesweeper, her stern being modified to take sweeping gear, being fitted with a 12-pounder gun and two machine guns, and allocated pennant number J 48 (N 48). She left with paddle steamers Sandown, Thames Queen, Gracie Fields, Queen of Thanet, , Laguna Belle and Brighton Belle. On her return to Dover, her arrival coincided with an air raid. She shot down a German aircraft outside the harbour. The Brighton Belle ran over sunken wreckage and began to sink. the Admiralty published a correction the following morning. Her crew gained seven awards for gallantry – two Distinguished Service Crosses, three Distinguished Service Medals and two mentions in dispatches – having made seven crossings and rescued 7,000 men. and was scheduled to be scrapped in Belgium. The Belgian ship-breaker, upon discovering that the vessel he was expecting to break up was "The Heroine of Dunkirk", declined to continue (it is reported that he felt that no one should dare to destroy such a gallant and important little ship). The Daily Mail campaigned to save her. Use as nightclub Having been saved from scrapping, Medway Queen was eventually sold for use as a nightclub and marina clubhouse, and was moored at the Medway Queen Marina (now known as the Island Harbour Marina) on the Isle of Wight. The club opened in 1966. In 1970, a larger ship, PS Ryde, renamed as Ryde Queen, joined Medway Queen at the marina site, also operating as a nightclub. The two premises operated alongside one another for a period, until the Medway Queen was eventually closed and fell into disrepair. Preservation In 1978 the Medway Queen was bought by private owners with the aim of preserving her. She was moved out of the marina to the adjacent River Medina, but sank in the river when the hull sprang a leak. There she remained, in a state of increasing deterioration, until in 1984 she was salvaged, moved to Cowes at the river's mouth, and thence towed back to Chatham in Kent on a salvage barge. In 1987 she was moved to Damhead Creek, Kingsnorth on the Hoo Peninsula, but the trust lacked funds to bring her back to service, and struggled to preserve the structure. After a series of near disasters, in 2006 the National Lottery Heritage Memorial Fund agreed a £1.8 million funding package to restore her structure, subject to the society raising £225,000. Although the funds were raised, neither the insurance company nor marine engineers were confident that her hull was seaworthy and able to sustain lifting on to a pontoon. In October 2006, the Trust agreed to the deconstruction of the hull, and salvageable pieces were moved to Gillingham Pier (and a National Lottery funded warehouse) in Chatham Dockyard, in preparation of the hull being professionally restored to seaworthy condition. In October 2008, the society signed a contract with David Abels Shipbuilders to restore the hull at the Albion Dry Dock in Bristol, using plate riveting. Work began in April 2009 and was due to be completed in the summer of 2010. On 27 July 2013 the ship was rededicated. Plans were to float her out of the Albion Dock during the summer of 2013 and tow her back to Gillingham for a reception on 2 November. The tow home to Gillingham using the tug Christine started from Bristol on 24 October 2013. Weather conditions meant they were held up at Avonmouth until 15 November when the wind abated sufficiently, and the tow around Land's End and through the English Channel continued in safety. The tug and tow finally arrived on the River Medway on Monday 18 November 2013. Due mainly to tidal restriction, the Medway Queen was buoyed in Saltpan Reach until high tide the following day. On 19 November the Medway Queen made the final leg of her journey to her new home at Gillingham Pier, guided by tug master Alan Pratt, with the ship welcomed by a large crowd and TV crews. ==Medway Queen at Ramsgate==

In July 2021 the Medway Queen was towed to the Royal Harbour, Ramsgate for a major refurbishment, including repairs to the paddle wheels, hull and new handrails, before returning to Gillingham. In 2025 it was announced that, for about eleven days in May, the Medway Queen would be a centrepiece at Ramsgate harbour during the 85th Anniversary of Operation Dynamo. She was expected to see off around 70 Little Ships, accompanied by naval warships, which planned to cross the Channel to Dunkirk on 21 May, and to welcome their return to Ramsgate on 26 May, weather permitting. ==Cultural references==

The ship features in the 1964 Ken Russell film French Dressing. ==Official number and code letters==

Official Numbers provided, on a national basis, a unique identifier for a ship, regardless of change of name. Medway Queen had the UK Official Number 148361. She used the Code Letters GGNG between about 1944 and 1950. ==Timeline==

• 1924 – built Troon, Scotland, by the Ailsa Yard for service on the River Medway and the Thames Estuary. Trialled on the River Clyde • 1925 – worked on River Medway and the Thames Estuary, part of the "Queen Line" fleet of the New Medway Steam Packet Company based at Rochester, Kent • 1937 – attended the Coronation Review for George VI at Spithead • 1938 – converted by Wallsend Engineering from coal to oil burning, by Wallsend Engineering • 1939 – carried children evacuated from Kent to East Anglia. Joined Royal Navy as minesweeper No J 48 (N 48), serving for the duration of the war in the 10th minesweeping flotilla in the English Channel • 1940 – became part of the flotilla of ships evacuating British Army soldiers from Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo. After making seven trips (the record number of crossings by any merchant navy ship involved in the evacuation), she rescued over 7,000 men, gaining for the ship's crew seven awards for gallantry, and shot down three enemy aircraft. At one time during the evacuation, she was overdue and was thought to have been lost with all hands and troops – but she eventually arrived back at Dover, ready to return to France for more troops. The efforts of the ship and her crew earned the paddle steamer the title of "Heroine of Dunkirk" • 1946 – rebuilt by Thorneycrofts of Southampton • 1947 – returned to civilian service with New Medway Steam Packet Company • 1953 – attended the Coronation Review for Queen Elizabeth II at Spithead • 1963 – taken out of service, with the possibility of being broken up, but the Belgian shipbreaker declined to break up the "Heroine of Dunkirk" • 1964 – sold, and later opened as a nightclub on the Isle of Wight • 1970s – replaced by the larger PS Ryde and moved to the River Medina, but sank when the hull sprang a leak • 1984 – raised and towed back to the River Medway on a pontoon by new owners • ???? – abandoned and sank again, while moored against the wall of Chatham Dockyard • 1985 – the Medway Queen Preservation Society formed, with the intention of preserving the ship • 1987 – raised and moved to Damhead Creek, Kingsnorth on the Hoo Peninsula • 2006 – the National Lottery Heritage Memorial Fund agreed a £1.8 million funding package to restore the structure, subject to the Society raising £225,000 • 2006 – deconstructed, as hull considered both unseaworthy and of sustaining lifting onto a pontoon. The hull and salvageable pieces were moved to Chatham Dockyard • 2009 – restoration began in April, with new hull to be constructed at Albion Shipyard, Bristol. • 2011 – Visitors' Centre opened at Gillingham Pier, funded by the European Heroes2c project with sister projects Association Tourville and de Steenschuit • 2013 – new hull entered the River Medway at Sheerness under tow from Bristol on 18 November 2013 ==References==