The Post-War Years

The MEDWAY QUEEN was refitted by Thornycrofts of Southampton in time for the 1947 summer season on her old route from Strood to Southend.

She returned to operation with her original company of the New Medway Steam Packet Company providing excursions once again to the seaside resorts of Southend and Herne Bay.

Apart from the traditional "Bucket 'n' Spade" trips to Southend the MEDWAY QUEEN took part in the 1953 Spithead Review and in several movie roles.

By the early sixties the paddle steamer was no longer pleasing the holiday maker due to competition from the sky the cheap option of visiting the Costa del Sol. Also the craze for the motor car contributed to the decline in passenger numbers,

The MEDWAY QUEEN outlasted most of the Thames and Medway steamers by some fifteen years until an annual inspection in 1962 which identified a need for extensive repairs. This resulted in the New Medway Steam Packet Company offering it for sale to a Belgium ship breaker.

When the Medway Queen was purchased by the Belgium ship breaker a campaign was by the Daily Mail was set up to save her.

The Medway Queen was subsequently purchased by a group of business men and taken to the River Medina on the Isle of Wight where she became a night club. She served in this new role for many years before she became a victim of her own success. She was eventually replaced by a much larger vessel and the wartime heroine was left derelict in situ.

Was this the end of the Medway Queen's story?