Suddenly thought of my 18th birthday and the the cruise I won on the Queen in 1989 last night! A little googling and found your site Andy. Wow... memories and even a photo of our fancy dress night!
Thanks for the reminders as well as a fun holiday. Hard to believe it was so many years ago now!
My photos are somewhere around but my children have loved seeing and hearing the story of the "Queen"!

I served on deck from 1968/69 when we did Liverpool Docks taking potential investors for the proposed Container Terminal and the summer trips in which we rammed Margate or Ramsgate pier and also sank a family barge in Ostend! Very Eventful!!.

A couple of days ago i was watching the amazing documentary "Deep Water" as i was watching Robin Knox-Johnstone sail back across finishing line i saw a ship that looked a lot like Queen of the Isles. Today i thought i will have a look and see if the Queen was ever in the region at the time. Then i found this site, what a shock. When i was 14 yrs old my Father Bernie Muir was one of the Engineers that delivered the Queen from NZ (from Memory) to Cairns. He stayed on for sometime in numerous rolls i think he went on to become a General Manager. As a kid i had so many good times on board the Queen. I was onboard the Queen during the original fit out in Cairns for Royal Tropic Cruise lines and made many trips up to TI and back. I remember Vicki, Tony, Bob the Bossun, Mark and his Family, Wayne Gill and the owner who was investigated for trying to blow the Queen up with his wife onboard, I still have not heard the full story. My Father passed in 1998 from Asbestosis. This part of my fathers life was one that i will never forget. I have so many great memories of the crew who looked after me while onboard. Love to see more photos. My Father is the guy with stripped shirt and carrying the video camera with crew tied up at Trinity Wharf. I'm the Kid sitting in the life raft next to Bob the Bossun. I think that shot was taken at Cape York. a couple of years ago i was looking through Trader Boat magazine and i saw that Life raft for sale. I would have loved to of got hold of it.

i was lucky enough to get a job on the queen of the isles when i left school in the late 60s sailing between penzance and scillys also st ives to the scillys and we aleo done about a week running from torquay to the channel islands really enjoyed my time working on there great crew great snip soory she ended up like she has but thank you for bringing back memories will keep coming back here

I followed the career of the ship as a teenager in the 1960s but sailed in her only once, from Barry to Ilfracombe in September 1968. She was a versatile ship that did so many things in her six years in the UK.
In a week's time, on 16 November, it will be fifty years since she was launched in Bristol. It's great to have this website to keep our memories of the ship alive.

Well done on a brilliant website.

I stumbled across the site when researching the Queen of the Islands for a build of a 1/250 scale card model that I am building.

Did you know you can download a free card model of her from the following website?

In 1985 I worked for months on the MV Noel Buxton which was always six months booked out in advance. 33 on board, 7 crew and 26 guests which were always Australian couples. We left Monday evenings, reached TI Thursdays and returned by Saturday. One night off and back again. Martin was the skipper then. Other crew came and went. We had some amazing experiences whilst steaming to and fro Torres Strait. Love to hear from some who experienced the unique Buxton experience!

Thanks for setting up this website. I came across it whilst digitising photos from a cruise I did on Queen of the Isles in July 1990. I still have the travel documents and lots of photos. It was an interesting trip and very enjoyable.

Sailed on the Queen of the Isles aged 4 in 1964 with Mum & Dad on 1st ever visit to Scilly (it must have been her first year in service). The crossing was very rough and everyone was very seasick, except me! No one to look after me on the trip - Mum & Dad where in the bowels of the vessel incapacitated! However, it obviously didn't put us off; we spent every annual holiday on Scilly for the next 15 yrs and then I left home to work there at Tregarthens Hotel. Met husband to be there - thanks Queenie!

1987 Journal Entry for my then husband Ed Hartley and myself.In Cardwell we had booked and paid for a week long, Maiden Voyage Cruise Of the MV Noel Buxton from Cairns to Thursday Island. When we arrived in Cairns we looked for the address of the Steamship Company to find it was vacant. Nerves were settled when we found the office at a different address and we checked in.

A ‘Paddle Wheel’ boat ride around the Harbour and we get our first glimpse of the MV Noel Buxton. A better look, once we are back on shore, is a little disconcerting. Welders are frantically welding the rail around the Fan Tail shaped stern. Painters, delivery vans, buzzed around like bees, Ed, suffering a panic attack. We met the crew and fellow passengers and the anxious new owner. Eighteen passengers, and six crew have drinks in the salon. At 8P.M. It is dark and we leave, on time.
Soon it is raining heavily and the seas become rough and the passengers head for their cabins. Choosing the lee side washrooms to avoid ‘backwash’ of the direct flush toilets.
March 10
Sleep eluded us and several people did not show up for breakfast. “Col” busily dispensed seasick tablets and tea as we head for Lizard Island.
The weather gradually clears but the sea is still choppy when we reach the Research Station Island, and are transferred by dingy. We are in the first boatload and while we wait we walk along the shore spotting