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 |
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1937 |
Attended Coronation Review at Spithead. |
1939 |
Carried young evacuees from Kent to East Anglia. |
1939 |
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. |
| 1984 | 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. |
| 1987 | Society became owners of Medway Queen |
| 1987 | 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. |
| September 2008 | Heritage Lotteryy Fund gave permission to award David Abels (Boatbuilders) with the contract to build the new hull. |
Registered No. 2100358
Charity No. 296236
Copyright © 2009 by the Medway Queen Preservation Society.
Designed & Controlled by Tim Corthorn
