On 24 October 2013 the partially-restored paddler Medway Queen was towed out of the dry dock in Bristol, where restoration work has been ongoing, and moored in the Floating Harbour opposite the Albion Dock ready to go to the Medway, where she is to be fitted out at Gillingham Pier. She was towed by the tug Christine down the river to Avonmouth on 31 October, remaining there until 15 November when she left for the Medway, arriving on 18 November.
The rebuild of the 1924-built paddle steamer has been described as ‘a fantastic achievement for British engineering’, and has followed original drawings while adapting traditional techniques to thepresent day. Restoration work on the hull began in Bristol in 2011, with money from a £1.86 million Heritage Lottery Grant. The historicpaddler’s eventful life includes wartime minesweeping and involvement in the Dunkirk Evacuation.
