Information about The Medway Queen
Yard Number: P.S.388
Tonnage: 316grt (134 net)
Length: 54.9m (180ft)
Beam: 7.3m (24ft)
Beam over paddle frame: 15.2m (50ft)
Normal Draft: 1.7m (5ft 6inch)
Max Speed: 15knts @ 55rpm (13knts @ 45rpm)
Construction: Steel plate riveted on frames
Engines: Compound diagonal type
Boiler: Scotch type boiler (3.4m/11ft long) fitted with triple furnaces. Originally coal fired until 1938 when it was converted to oil during re-boilering by Wallsend Engineering.
Key Events
- 1924
- Built at Troon, for the New Medway Steam Packet Company
- 1937
- Attended Coronation Review at Spithead.
- 1939
- Carried young evacuees from Kent to East Anglia.
- Requisitioned for war service, fitted out as Minesweeper, No. J48.
- 1940
- Rescued 7000 troops from Dunkirk. Shot down three enemy aircraft.
- 1941
- Training vessel for minesweeping duties.
- 1946
- Refitted for peacetime use.
- 1947
- First season back on her old Strood to Southend run.
- 1953
- Attended Coronation Review at Spithead.
- 1963
- Taken out of service and laid up.
- 1965
- Sold to ship breaker, huge press campaign to save the ship.
- 1966
- Opened as a Club house on a new marina on the Isle of Wight.
- Mid 70s
- Replaced by larger vessel. Abandoned, sunk in River Medina on the Isle of Wight.
- 1984
- Returned to Kent by new owners hoping to preserve the ship.
- Sunk in River Medway at Chatham, future looking bleak.
- 1985
- Medway Queen Preservation Society formed. Work on ship began.
- 1987
- Ship refloated after 14 years under water.
- Society became owners of Medway Queen.
- Ship towed to berth at Damehead Creek near Kingsnorth Power Station.
- 1994
- Surveys, marketing and design studies carried out. Funded largely by Rochester upon Medway City Council.
- 1995
- Society now 1200 strong. Fundraising ongoing. Future optimistic.
- 2002
- Funnel and fiddley re-built by Appledore Shipbuilders of Devon.
- June 2006
- Heritage Lottery Fund agreed in principal to award the maximum of £1.861 million towards the rebuild of the hull of the Medway Queen.
- Sept 2008
- Heritage Lottery Fund gave permission to award David Abels (Boatbuilders) with the contract to build the new hull.
- Dec 2011
- New visitor centre opens