My Great Grandfather, William Edward James BAILEY was like many men in Folkestone, a mariner. At one stage he was a crew member of The Queen HMTS and was aboard her when she was intercepted and scuttled by German destroyers in WWI. I was first told this story by my grandfather, who was a boy of eight at the time of the incident. My grandfather told me that in town they had heard the sound of explosions on the Channel and it had been many hours of anxious waiting to learn the fate of his father. He also told me that the crew of The Queen had been heroes and had managed to hide some vital papers from the German's who searched the ship before destroying her. My father had in his possession a postcard photo of The Queen and her crew to commemorate this event. I was intrigued.............

The story of The Queen is relatively short but nonetheless fascinating. Commissoned by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company she was built by William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton Scotland in 1903. The Queen was the first cross Channel steam turbine ferry. With dimensions of 310 feet long, 40 feet wide and 25 feet deep she was described as being the "largest and handsomest of the fleet of the South Eastern and Chatham Railways, and apart from the novel machinery, is a great improvement upon her predecessors" (1)

The Queen was launched on 4th April 1903. She underwent trials and was delivered to the S.E & C Railway Company on 15th June of the same year. On the 27th June The Queen made an inaugural voyage from Folkestone to Calais, returning to Dover. On 29th June she made her maiden voyage between Dover and Calais. This became her regular route until 1907 when she transferred to Folkestone and undertook the route between Folkestone and Boulogne.

On 30 May 1908 The Queen collided head on with her sister ship Onward. The bow lookout of the Onward was killed in the collision. The Queen accompanied Onward back to Folkestone.

At the outbreak of war in 1914 The Queen, along with the other Channel ferries, was taken over by the Admiralty and began her service as a troop carrier. On 26th October 1914, enroute to Folkestone in hazardous conditions she encountered the French steamer Amiral Ganteaume which had been torpedoed or struck a mine while crossing between Calais and Le Havre. Aboard the Amiral Ganteaume were some 2,200 French and Belgian refugees. The seas were too rough to allow for the launching of boats. Instead Robert CAREY, Captain of The Queen manoeuvred the ship alongside the stricken French steamer allowing her passengers to board The Queen. The crew of the Amiral Ganteaume remained with their ship until rescued by the French warships which then scuttled the ill-fated ferry.

The Queen, designed to carry only 1000 passengers made for Folkestone Harbour. A contemporary description of her return reports that "those who saw the cross-Channel boat, as this writer did, well down in the sea because of its load, approach the quay side, will never forget the sight of the packed decks and the great cheers given by the overjoyed people for Capt. Carey and the crew, when the steamer tied up to its berth". (2)

Strangely it was two years later in 1916, on the exact same date, 26th October that The Queen met her fate. She was returning at night from Boulogne, empty of troops, when she was intercepted around 11.00pm by five of ten German destroyers involved in a raid. The ship was boarded by the enemy and her papers taken. The crew were allowed to take to the boats before the ship was sunk by gunfire. The Queen is reported to have drifted for some three hours before finally sinking off South Goodwin. Although all crew member initially survived the incident the ship's young cook, Lewis DILNOT was badly scalded and later died of his wounds. The British destroyer Flirt and several "unarmed patrols" were also sunk in the Channel that night with a loss of fourty five lives.

From official reports it would seem that the rescue of important papers was family folklore (or should I say "Folkelore") rather than reality. Nonetheless I think that the crew members of The Queen experienced more adventure in a short period of time time than most of us do in a lifetime.

Bibligraphy:

1 The Graphic
    4th July 1903 pg 26

2 "Memories of the Harbour"
   H. Hickinbotham in
   Folkestone Past and Present
    F. J. Parsons Ltd Printers 1954

3 Dover and The Great War
   J. B Firth

4 The Dover Patrol 1915 -1917
   Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon

and the assistance of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich London