 PSMedway Queen, Gillingham Pier 2016 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Medway Queen |
| Owner |
|
| Port of registry |  Rochester |
| Builder | Ailsa Shipbuilding Company,Troon,Scotland |
| Yard number | PS 388 |
| Launched | Wednesday 23 April 1924 |
| In service | 1924 |
| Out of service | 1964 |
| Identification |
|
| Nickname(s) | Heroine of Dunkirk |
| Status | Under restoration as a museum ship |
| Notes | Sea trials 1924 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Paddle steamer |
| Tonnage | 316 GRT |
| Displacement | 134 tonnes[citation needed] |
| Length | 179 ft 9 in (54.79 m) |
| Beam |
|
| Draught | 7 ft 8 in (2.34 m) |
| Installed power | 76 hp (57 kW)[1] Scotch type boiler 11 feet long, fitted with triple furnaces feeding Ailsa built compound diagonal steam engine. Coal fired when built, converted to oil fired by Wallsend Engineering in 1938, built by Ailsa |
| Propulsion | Paddles |
| Speed |
|
| Armament | 1 × 12-pounder gun, 2 × machine guns (HMSMedway Queen) |
ThePSMedway Queen is apaddle drivensteamship, the only mobileestuary paddle steamer left in theUnited Kingdom. She was one of the "little ships of Dunkirk", making a record seven trips and rescuing 7,000 men in theevacuation of Dunkirk.[2]
She was the subject of a £1.8 millionNational LotteryHeritage Memorial Fund grant to restore her hull. By 2014, her hull had been reconstructed and she is berthed atGillingham Pier on theRiver Medway as of 2022[update]. In 2024, she celebrated her centenary.[3]
PSMedway Queen was built by theAilsa Shipbuilding Company atTroon,Scotland, in 1924 for service on theRiver Medway and in theThames Estuary. Trialled on theRiver Clyde, she was delivered to be part of the "Queen Line" fleet of theNew Medway Steam Packet Company based atRochester,Kent.[4] She steamed on routes fromStrood andChatham, toSheerness,Herne Bay andMargate in Kent, and toClacton andSouthend inEssex.
On 3 August 1929,Medway Queen collided withSouthend Pier, Essex, and suffered extensive damage to herbows.[5]
After attending theCoronation Fleet Review forKing George VI atSpithead,Medway Queen was converted to oil-fired steaming byWallsend Slipway & Engineering Company in 1937.[6]
Requisitioned by theRoyal Navy on 9 September 1939, her first task was evacuating Kent children fromGravesend toEast Anglia.[7][8] She was refitted at the shipyard of theGeneral Steam Navigation Company inDeptford Creek as aminesweeper, herstern being modified to take sweeping gear, being fitted with a12-pounder gun and twomachine guns, and allocated pennant number J 48 (N 48).[8] She served for the duration ofWorld War II in the10th Minesweeping Flotilla, patrolling theStrait of Dover and theEnglish Channel.
In May 1940Operation Dynamo was launched to rescue retreatingBritish Army soldiers fromDunkirk in northern France. HMSMedway Queen became part of theflotilla of little ships.[9] She left with paddle steamersSandown,Thames Queen,Gracie Fields,Queen of Thanet,PS Princess Elizabeth,Laguna Belle andBrighton Belle.[9] She made seven crossings.[9]
On her first trip, approximately 600 soldiers were taken offDe Panne beach in lifeboats and ferried to the ship.[10] On her return toDover, her arrival coincided with an air raid. She shot down aGerman aircraft outside the harbour. TheBrighton Belle ran over sunken wreckage and began to sink.[10] All of her passengers and crew were rescued by theMedway Queen without loss of life and, heavily overloaded, she made the harbour.[11][10]
On her second trip she took about 450 soldiers directly off the beach;[10] this required more skill, but was much faster. Soldiers used a technique with oily bags to conceal their distinctive wash from patrolling aircraft. On later trips, theMedway Queen penetrated the damaged Dunkirk port and took off men from a concrete jetty or mole.[9] Men were discharged at Ramsgate rather than Dover, where the vessel was fuelled and reprovisioned.[9]
On Monday 3 JuneVice Admiral Ramsey gave the order that all ships were to leave Dunkirk by 2.30 the following morning. This was theMedway Queen's seventh trip. She was at the mole in Dunkirk when a destroyer moored astern of her was driven forwards by an explosion and smashed her starboard paddle box, she sustained considerable damage.[9]Medway Queen limped back to Dover with 400 French soldiers on board. On arriving back at Dover the crew of theMedway Queen discovered that the Admiralty had reported their ship as having been sunk (news which was reported throughout the UK);[12] the Admiralty published a correction the following morning.[13]
Her crew gained seven awards for gallantry – twoDistinguished Service Crosses,[14] threeDistinguished Service Medals[15] and twomentions in dispatches[16] – having made seven crossings and rescued 7,000 men.[9] In view of this remarkable achievement in rescuing so many Allied troops from France, she earned the title of "The Heroine of Dunkirk".[11] After repairs in Portsmouth Dockyard, she returned to minesweeping duties, and in 1942 she was converted to a minesweeping training ship, serving out the war in this capacity, and was returned to her owners in January 1946.[8][7]
Rebuilt byThornycrofts ofSouthampton in 1946, she returned to civilian service with New Medway Steam Packet Company for the 1947 season.Medway Queen attended the1953 Coronation Fleet Review atSpithead.
She made her last sailing on 8 September 1963,[17] and was scheduled to be scrapped inBelgium.[18] 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). TheDaily Mail campaigned to save her.[19]
Having been saved from scrapping,Medway Queen was eventually sold for use as anightclub and marina clubhouse, and was moored at the Medway Queen Marina (now known as theIsland Harbour Marina) on theIsle of Wight. The club opened in 1966. In 1970, a larger ship,PSRyde, renamed asRyde Queen, joinedMedway Queen at the marina site, also operating as a nightclub. The two premises operated alongside one another for a period, until theMedway Queen was eventually closed and fell into disrepair.[20]
In 1978 theMedway Queen was bought by private owners with the aim of preserving her. She was moved out of the marina to the adjacentRiver 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.[20] In 1985 theMedway Queen Preservation Society formed, with the intention of preserving the historic ship.[21]
In 1987 she was moved to Damhead Creek,Kingsnorth on theHoo 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 theNational LotteryHeritage 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 apontoon. 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) inChatham Dockyard, in preparation of the hull being professionally restored to seaworthy condition.[22]
In October 2008, the society signed a contract with DavidAbels Shipbuilders to restore the hull at the Albion Dry Dock in Bristol, using plate riveting.[23] Work began in April 2009 and was due to be completed in the summer of 2010.[24] 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.[25][26]
The tow home to Gillingham using the tugChristine started from Bristol on 24 October 2013.[26] 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, theMedway Queen was buoyed in Saltpan Reach until high tide the following day. On 19 November theMedway 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.[22]
In July 2021 theMedway Queen was towed to theRoyal Harbour, Ramsgate for a major refurbishment, including repairs to the paddle wheels, hull and new handrails, before returning to Gillingham.[27]
The ship features in the 1964 Ken Russell filmFrench Dressing.
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.[28][29]
She used theCode Letters GGNG between about 1944 and 1950.[29][30][31]
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51°23′53″N0°33′18″E / 51.39806°N 0.55500°E /51.39806; 0.55500
