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The 'Queen' leaving Dover c.1905.
The ‘Queen’ was the first turbine steamer
to be built for the cross-Channel service. She was built by
the South Eastern & Chatham
Railway and entered service between Dover and Calais in
June 1903. In 1907 she transferred to the Folkestone-Boulogne
service. While operating on this route she was involved in
a collision in thick fog with the ‘Onward’ which also belonged
to the SECR. Damage to each ship was made worse by the respective
anchors catching and tearing a large hole in the other’s side.
During the early part of the First
World War in 1914, the ‘Queen’ helped to evacuate refugees
from Ostend, after which she became a troop transport, in
common with other SECR vessels. On 26 October 1914, she rescued
over 2,000 refugees from the French vessel ‘Amiral Ganteaume’,
torpedoed whist bound from Calais to Le Harve.
In September 1916 she towed the disabled
troop transport ‘Queen Empress’, filled with troops, back
to safety. Then, just one month later on 26 October, the ‘Queen’
herself was attacked by German destroyers, some miles off
Folkestone, and sunk.
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