Perhaps members would be interested in the following
column published in "Steamboat Bill" in the Spring,
2003 issue. That was before the Heritage Lottery
people unbelievably turned down an application that
had been prepared according to their own advice.
As to the "Core List:" let us note that Waverly is on
that list (where she certainly belongs) but that she
is 1947, not 1924; was not the finest British paddler
of her time (Bristol Queen anyone?); and has nothing
like the Medway Queen's war service in her history.
Placement on the list appears on the face of it to be
inconsistent.
Bill Worden
The column:
In an obscure tributary of the River Medway in
southeast England lies an incredible survival,
waiting, as she has done for four decades, for better
days. Since 1987, the paddle steamer Medway Queen has
been in Damhead Creek on the Hoo Peninsula, downriver
from Chatham and Rochester, slowly, too slowly, coming
back to life.
Built in 1924 by Ailsa at Troon, Medway Queen served
her entire active life on the Medway and the nearby
coast in the service of the New Medway Steam Packet
Company. When built she would have been considered a
typical but unremarkable example of the British paddle
excursion steamer. A handsome vessel of 180' length
and 316 gross tons, she was far outshone in size,
speed, and glamor by the steamers of the Clyde, the
Thames, or the Bristol Channel. She has, however,
survived all her contemporaries except the little
Kingswear Castle and the engineless Princess Elizabeth
in exile at, of all places, Dunkirk.
In 1939 she was mobilized as a Royal Navy minesweeper,
serving the entire war in the English Channel. Her
moment in history turned out to be heroic
participation in one of the near-legendary defining
events of 20th century history, the evacuation of
Dunkirk in May, 1940. She made seven trips to the
beaches of France—a record—evacuating seven thousand
men and shooting down three enemy planes, all the
while under the most appalling attack by the Germans.
She was given no less than four awards for gallantry.
After the war, she was rebuilt by Thornycrofts at
Southampton and returned to her owner’s service in
1947. By 1963, her excursion service was over, and the
scrapyard beckoned. Even then, forty years ago, there
was a great public outcry and she was saved by static
use as a marina facility on the Isle of Wight. That
service was too short, as she was replaced by the
paddle steamer Ryde, a larger vessel, when the
operators claimed a need for more space. Medway Queen
was moved to the River Medina, where she sank. In
1984, she was raised and placed on a pontoon for a tow
back to the Medway, where she sank again at the wall
at the Chatham Royal Dockyard.
In 1985, the Medway Queen Preservation Society was
founded and acquired what was, by then, the hulk. It
took two years of hard volunteer labor to clear the
ship of mud, persuade her to float, and patch her up.
The site at Damhead Creek was offered free of charge,
and she was moved there in 1987. For fifteen years she
has floated—and sometimes not—at Damhead Creek as her
incredibly committed caretakers kept cleaning her up,
painting, patching the patches, and trying to make
such real progress as they could toward actual
restoration.
The Medway Queen Preservation Society deserves no less
than four awards for gallantry for determination,
devotion, immutable optimism, and just plain hard
work. For reasons that escape this writer, they’ve had
precious little help so far from the British
powers-that-be. The official British list of historic
ships ranks vessels according to their perceived
importance. A “Core List†identifies vessels that
receive the lion’s share of assistance and attention
from government, grantors, and, especially, Britain’s
Heritage Lottery Fund. Medway Queen is on the
“Designated List,†not the “Core List,†and she
languishes as a result.
After a career of three decades in American historic
preservation, and some highly valued association with
opposite numbers in Britain, this commentator knows
full well the problems that bureaucratic procedures
can create. But there are also, or should be, ways to
cut through the red tape and do what is right. If this
heroine of Dunkirk—and its last survivor other than
small boats—is not “Core List†material, then there is
something wrong with the criteria used to create the
list.
Is this of concern to us in the United States? You
bet. Our society has a number of members who are
veterans of World War II. All of us have, or had,
fathers, uncles, brothers, grandfathers, friends and
loved ones who served in the European Theatre in those
dark days. Think, if you will, what would have been
the price to America and Americans had Britain not
stayed the course as the bulwark against Germany in
1940. Without the 338,000 soldiers evacuated from
Dunkirk, Britain might well have collapsed before
America entered the war. It takes only a moment to
realize what that would have meant to the USA:
fighting a war from a base 3,000 miles away for lack
of a European base of operations and an essentially
go-it-alone fight in the west. The cost in American
money, materiel and, especially, lives would have been
appalling. Medway Queen stands for all of the Western
democracies as a symbol of a turning point in our
history.
The Heritage Lottery is working with the Medway Queen
society to develop another application, and the good
news is that both the society and the lottery
officials agree that an operational steamer is the
only acceptable goal. To make that dream become
reality, though, those who keep the “Core List†must
welcome the gallant Medway Queen to that select
company.
And we Americans? We owe Medway Queen and the flotilla
of “little ships†an enormous debt. It would only be
fair for some of us to make a gesture toward paying it
back. Why not join a list of supporters ranging from
Viscountess Moncton of Branchlet to Mick Jagger? The
address is: Medway Queen Preservation Society, Bob
Barnes, Treasurer, 3 Vesper Cottages, Cage Lane,
Smarten, Afford. TN27 8QD, Great Britain. (On the web,
see
http://www.medwayqueen.com.) For those who have
not previously donated abroad, let me note that
transacting an American check will cost the society
about ten to fifteen dollars in bank fees, so send
that much extra. I’m sending my bit, and I’m looking
forward to a trip on the restored Medway Queen.
Main Menu
UserBox
Search
