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PS MEDWAY QUEEN
FOOD ON BOARD HALL TWO - WARTIME |
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As you can imagine, priorities and menus were rather different during the war but the cooking facilities were still a small solid fuel range in a cramped galley (see right). It was in use throughout Medway Queen's excursion and war service and wasn't updated until 1966 for the Medway Queen Club.
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HMS Medway Queen made seven trips in all to Dunkirk, rescuing thousands of men; all of whom were offered food and drink by Thomas and his assistant "Sec" in their small galley with its primitive equipment. No mean feat!
HMS Medway Queen served in the Royal Navy for the whole of the second World War. From 1944 she was allocated to a training unit based in Granton, Edinburgh. Charles McCara joined the ship in April 1945 and was in command by June of that year. He recorded that HMS Medway Queen had a company of 4 officers and 24 ratings and there was accommodation for up to 20 trainees. She established a reputation for treating the trainees as guests and the ship’s cook was crucial to maintaining this standard. The wardroom had retained the qualities of an excursion steamer saloon and seemed more like a restaurant than part of a warship. A roaring coal fire, pre lunch drinks and then roast beef followed by a pudding with custard made a marked contrast to the conditions on an exposed deck in the North Sea. All prepared in that same small galley with its coal fired range!
From "Mainly in Minesweepers", Charles McAra, R J Leach and Co, 1991and "The Medway Queen", 2013, 2014, 2020.
HMS Medway Queen served in the Royal Navy for the whole of the second World War. From 1944 she was allocated to a training unit based in Granton, Edinburgh. Charles McCara joined the ship in April 1945 and was in command by June of that year. He recorded that HMS Medway Queen had a company of 4 officers and 24 ratings and there was accommodation for up to 20 trainees. She established a reputation for treating the trainees as guests and the ship’s cook was crucial to maintaining this standard. The wardroom had retained the qualities of an excursion steamer saloon and seemed more like a restaurant than part of a warship. A roaring coal fire, pre lunch drinks and then roast beef followed by a pudding with custard made a marked contrast to the conditions on an exposed deck in the North Sea. All prepared in that same small galley with its coal fired range!
From "Mainly in Minesweepers", Charles McAra, R J Leach and Co, 1991and "The Medway Queen", 2013, 2014, 2020.
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