Medway Queen - A Poem

The "Medway Queen"
is wakening from her dream.
 
She helped to keep
our coastline free
from mines in the Thames Estuary.
 
Her important task
was the salvation
of 7,000 men at the
Dunkirk evacuation.
 
She was a passenger
steamer until 1963,
sailing from Rochester
to Southend-on-Sea.
 
Her sailing life stopped
when she "sank" at Chatham Dock,
left to rust and decay
to our dismay.
 
With works carried out
by volunteers,
her future has become
more clear.
 
They could only restore her,
renovate, paint and oil her.
 
Back to her former glory,
"Medway Queen"
will start a brand new story.
 
Thanks to her workers
and engineers,
when she's fully launched,
we can all cry "Cheers!".
 
 
Christine Sherlock.