MEDWAY QUEEN – RETURN TO GILLINGHAM

PS Medway Queen is no stranger to Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour although her visits have not been very regular. In 1940 she was there quite often during Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk. She landed the rescued men there on six out of her seven trips – landing them at Margate on trip three. She sailed from Dover on trip six but had previously landed the men at Ramsgate and then moved to Dover. Several of the wartime photos that we have were taken in Ramsgate Harbour by her First Lieutenant, John Graves. How he found the time and energy to take the pictures is a mystery. We have no record of further visits during the war or while she operated as an excursion steamer, but in 2015 she was back, moored at the Commercial Quay and open to visitors for the Dunkirk anniversary event there.

Her most recent visit was more mundane in that it was for the purpose of hull maintenance. The plan had originally been Preservation Society then looked at getting at least some of the work done at her berth at Gillingham Pier but that would have had severe limitations and the idea foundered, certainly not helped by the continuing pandemic.