The Medway Queen

The Medway Queen was built at the Alisa Shipbuilding Company in Troon, Scotland, in 1924.

She was delivered to the New Medway Steam Packet Company who were based in Rochester to be part of their ‘Queen Line’ fleet which operated on the River Medway and Thames Estuary.

With the start of the Second World War the Medway Queen was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for use as a minesweeper and was allocated the number N 48 and then J 48. The first operation undertaken by the Medway Queen was the evacuation of Kent children from Gravesend to East Anglia. Refitting of the Medway Queen for her minesweeper role was undertaken in the shipyard of General Steam Navigation Company of Deptford Creek, her aft deck being removed and modified to take minesweeping gear.

The Medway Queen was fitted with a 12pdr gun and two machine guns and took part in the Dunkirk Evacuations where she was part of the flotilla of little ships where she made a record 7 trips and rescued 7000 men. The Medway Queen received four awards for gallantry, having rescued 7000 men, making 7 crossings and having shot down 3 enemy aircraft. For her efforts in the Dunkirk Evacuations she earned the title “The Heroine of Dunkirk”.

In 1942 she was converted to a training ship for mine sweeping and continued in this capacity until the end of the war. An image of the Medway Queen in her War configuration is attached below.

After the war rebuilding of the Medway Queen took place at Thorneycrofts of Southampton in 1946 and she returned to civilian service with the New Medway Steam Packet Company in time for the 1947 season.

The final sailing of the Medway Queen took place on 8th September 1963 she was then subsequently sent to Belgium to be scrapped but when the Belgian ship breaker discovered the identity of the Medway Queen, The Heroine of Dunkirk, he refused to continue, feeling that no one should dare destroy such a gallant and important little ship. A campaign was then set up by the Daily Mail to save her.

The Medway Queen was saved and was then used as a floating nightclub until she was replaced by a larger steamer bringing her life as a nightclub to a close and she then fell into disrepair.

In 1978 she was bought by private owners with the intention of preserving her but she sank when her hull sprang a leak. She remained in this increasing state of deterioration until 1984 when she was recovered on a salvage pontoon and towed back to Chatham, Kent.

In 1985 The Medway Queen Preservation Society was formed in the hope of preserving and restoring the historic steamer, their hope being Chatham Dockyard may have assisted in this purpose but the Dockyard refused and with a lack of funds the pontoon that the Medway Queen had been resting on was removed, this allowed her to sink again.

By 1987 she had been recovered again and moved to Damhead Creek, Kingsnorth on the Hoo Peninsula but the Preservation Society lacked funds to make any progress until in 2006 the National Lottery Heritage Memorial Fund agreed a £1.8million funding to restore her structure subject to the Society raising £225,000.

With the raising of the required funds the hull of the Medway Queen was replaced using plate rivetting at Albion Dry Dock in Bristol by David Abel’s Shipbuilders.

With completion of the hull replacement the Medway Queen now rests at her new home of Gillingham Pier where volunteers from the Medway Queen Preservation Society continue their work to restore The Heroine of Dunkirk to her former glory.

To visit the Medway Queen and for more information you can visit the Medway Queen Preservation Society’s website here: https://www.medwayqueen.co.uk