Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Medway Queen a paddle steamer in Damhead Creek

Monument Types

• SITE (Modern - 1924 AD to 2000 AD)
• WRECK (Built 1924, Modern - 1924 AD to 2000 AD)

Full description

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The paddle steamer Medway Queen was built in 1924 by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company on the Clyde for the New Medway Steam Packet Company of Rochester, Kent; England, just one of many pleasure steamers operating round England's coasts. She was powered by a diagonal compound steam engine, originally coal burning but converted to oil in 1938. She was the only paddle steamer built specifically for service on the River Medway in Kent. The company operated several pleasure steamers on the estuary at that time for the Strood - Southend service. In those days most seaside or riverside towns had a pier where paddle steamers could embark their passengers. Strood boasted such a pier, in fact little changed today.She called at Sun Pier in Chatham, Upnor and Sheerness, on her way to Southend and Herne Bay - sometimes her route took in either Margate or Clacton. At the outbreak of the Second World War she was converted for minesweeping duties and served as HMS Medway Queen in the 10th Minesweeping Flotilla. During the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in 1940 under the command of Lt. A.T.Cook the ship earned the title 'Heroine of Dunkirk', saving 7000 men from the beaches of France. On her last trip she was badly damaged, eventually arriving at Dover after being posted missing. She had survived. She was refitted at Chatham Dockyard and served out the rest of the war as a training vessel. She returned to peacetime duties on the Medway in 1947. In the 1960's paddle steamers were being replaced by other forms of leisure, many were broken up and the Medway Queen was sold for scrap. A public outcry saved her from the breakers and she became a marina club house on the Isle of Wight. She had survived again. By 1980 however she was disused and derelict and once more the breakers yard beckoned. A group in Kent brought her back to the River Medway in 1984 intending to restore her but before long she was left sunken and abandoned near Chatham Dockyard. The Medway Queen Preservation Society was formed in 1985 and shortly after became owners of the ship. A professional marine survey was carried out on the vessel and the results were very encouraging. She had survived yet again. The early members of the Society knew they had an enormous task on their hands. The ship was completely submerged at high water and work could only take place between tides. The Society grew in strength, the condition of the ship improved and in 1987 by courtesy of P & O Shipping the New Medway Steam Packet Company was revived to hold legal title to the vessel. Charity status was achieved in the same year and a safe berth obtained at Damhead Creek, on the Hoo peninsular to where she was later towed after being successfully refloated. The berth at Kingsnorth Industrial Estate is where members continue the task of preservation while funds are being raised for a complete restoration.

On 30th.December, 1997, MEDWAY QUEEN sank at her moorings in Damhead Creek. She had been kept afloat for the previous six years having been refloated towards the end of 1991 after many weeks of work patching the hull. During this time the interior of the ship dried out and a great deal of restoration work was done, mainly on equipment in the engine room. The rest of the ship's interior was cleaned and painted, the upper deck was waterproofed and MEDWAY QUEEN began to look like a ship again. The ship's hull was still of course in a frail condition so although a close watch was always kept on it so that necessary repairs could be carried out in good time, a problem like the sinking was always a distinct possibility. We were faced, back in 1991, with the choice of simply refloating the ship and then doing nothing else, or proceeding with useful restoration work on board and risking a later problem. We actually got away with it for six years during which time much progress was made. We are of course well aware that the only way of safeguarding the ship, whether she be actively or staticly preserved in the future, is to repair the hull so that the risk of sinking is removed completely. The Society have been making this case to anyone who would listen for many years now, but still the ship hung on and the cry of "wolf" was largely ignored. Unfortunately the required work is very expensive and well beyond the Society's resources. This sinking has highlighted one important fact, that unless remedial work to safeguard the fabric of the ship is done, discussions on her possible future might well be academic; she will no longer be in existence, so any discussion over whether hull repairs should be rivetted or welded, for instance, will be totally irrelevant! (1-4)

Possibly also one of the "unidentified barges" seen on 1946 airphoto - see TQ 87 SW 1044. (1-4) The Medway Queen, moored at a dilapidated wharf by a steel lighter, its superstructure is very corroded and unsafe, the port and starboard paddles are in situ, there are signs of some repair to the vessel, but the superstructure has rusted through in some places. It is not clear if the vessel floats at high water, but it looks as though its back may be broken. In a very fragile and poor condition (5)

<1> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10308.

<2> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10310.

<3> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10311.

<4> 1959, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10473.

<5> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, North Kent Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: Phase ll: Field Assessment Year Two Report (Unpublished document). SWX12323.

Sources and further reading