SILVER QUEEN - DUNKIRK LITTLE SHIP HERE AT FAVERSHAM

At Iron Wharf  Boat Yard we often have boats coming here for restoration.  Silver Queen arrived by lorry this week, and we are very privileged to have her here.  She is one of the Dunkirk Little Ships that saved so many troops from the Dunkirk beaches.


History below provided from NHSR.
SILVER QUEEN, now re-named FERMAIN V, was built by Horn Bros in Southampton in 1926 as a harbour launch. With a 2ft draught she was never designed to cross the channel, yet in 1940, she was towed across to Dunkirk because she was ideal for ferrying soldiers from La Panne beach to the larger destroyers and transports which brought them back to England. Boats of her kind were considered expendable once their task had been fulfilled and no-one expected her to come back unscathed. In fact, she was reported to have sunk, but was later refloated. She then found her way, via Sheerness where she was owned briefly by a Commander Carter, to Guernsey in the Channel Islands. This may have been when she was re-equipped with a Ford 6 cylinder diesel, as she almost certainly had a petrol engine during the Second World War. Her next owner was C B Ferguson and when he died, her left her to his son Percy. He operated her on a daily run, carrying 65 passengers, on a ferry service which had been started in 1928 between St Peter Port and Fermain Bay. This is a favourite holiday beach, difficult to get at by any other means. Her 2ft draught, which was her so beneficial at Dunkirk, again made her ideal for this ferry service.re to edit.

We'll keep you posted on her progress and try to chat with the owner to find out his plans.

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