Medway Queen (1924)
Ship Fact Shee t
MEDWAY QUEEN (1924)
Base data at 31 December 1936. Compiled September 2009 * indicates entries changed during P&O Group service.
Type Paddle steamer P&O Group service 1936-1964 P&O Group status Owned by subsidiary company Former name(s)
Registered owners, New Medway Steam Packet Company Ltd managers and operators
Builders Ailsa Shipbuilding Company Yard Troon Country UK Yard number 388
Registry Rochester, UK Official number 148361 Signal letters [1944] GGNG Call sign Classification society Lloyd’s Register
Gross tonnage 316 grt Net tonnage Deadweight
Length 54.79m (179.8ft) Breadth 7.37m (24.1ft) Depth Draught 2.340m (7ft 8in)
Engines* Compound diagonal steam engine Engine builders Ailsa Shipbuilding Company Works Troon Country UK
Power Propulsion Paddles Speed 13 knots
Passenger capacity Cargo capacity Crew
Employment River Medway and Thames Estuary service
NMSPC 1936/1231/11
MEDWAY QUEEN (1924)
Career
23.04.1924: Launched. 1924: Completed as Medway Queen for the New Medway Steam Packet Company Ltd. 31.12.1936: Takeover of the New Medway Steam Packet Company Ltd by The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company agreed. 1937: Attended the Coronation Fleet Review for King George VI at Spithead. 1938: Converted to an oil-fired steamer by Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company. 1939/1945: Requisitioned by the Royal Navy as a minesweeper for service in the English Channel. 1939: Evacuated Kent children to East Anglia. 1940: Made seven trips to France during the Dunkirk evacuation to rescue 7,000 British servicemen. It was a record number of crossings by a civilian ship involved in the evacuation. She managed to gain four awards for the gallantry and shot down three enemy aircraft. In view of her remarkable achievement, she earned the title of ‘The Heroine of Dunkirk’. 1942: Converted to a mine sweeping training ship and served out the war in this capacity. 1946: Rebuilt by Thorneycrofts of Southampton and returned to commercial service in 1947. 1953: Attended the Coronation Fleet Review for Elizabeth II at Spithead. 1963: Taken out of service and scheduled to be scrapped in Belgium. The shipbreaker declined to continue once he learned she was ‘The Heroine of Dunkirk’. n.d.: Sold for use as a nightclub in the Isle of Wight. She was moved to the River Medina where she was sunk by accident. 1984: She was purchased by private owners in the aim of preserving her. The ship was eventually raised and towed back to the River Medway. The plans fell apart and she sank again in 1985. 2009: Presently being reconstructed and will be the only estuary paddle steamer left in the UK.
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NMSPC 1936/1231/11