Just found this site.
I was Assistant Naval Architect in Charles Hill when The Queen was built and remember her well. I have often wondered what happened to her .
She was built like a tank as she needed permenant ballast and had to take the ground at frequant intervals so her bottom plates were about 5/8" thick.
Also the cargo hold was sized to suit standard daffodil boxes.

What a wonderful website! I remember my one and only trip on the "Queen of the Isles" to the Scillies and unfortunately, I was very sea sick! However, I have always admired her and was sorry to see her departure from this run, so any attempt at a return voyage on her
Actually, I stumbled across this website through researching this ship because I've recently bought a model of her, built originally by an 80 year old man who was a frequent traveller to the Scillies, his favourite one being the "Queen". He has done a good job with the model, but some detailing work is needed which I can now attempt. The model is 36" long, radio controlled and it's good to be reaquainted with her, albeit, in a small way.

Just letting everyone know myself & a friend of mine went on the Queen around December 1990 we recorded a song about the Queen of the Isles in around 1991. The song received airplay in N.Q. & hundreds of copies of the song were sold that yr. If anyone would be interested in the cd please email me. Regards David

A great site. My father, Bob Krey (other posters have referred to him as Bob Craze), was Secong Engineer on the Queen from her maiden voyage until she left for a new life in Tonga. I made several trips on her over the years, including one to meet Robin Knox Johnson as he neared the end of his solo non-stop trip around the World. I'll try and find some photos for the site.

Mighty usfuel. Make no mistake, I appreciate it.

I was a Boilermaker apprentice at Hills yard from 60-66 and spent quite a lot of time working on the Queen during construction. Rather sad to see her end but she had a useful life.

thanks for the memories! I was a hostess for only a short time in 1988 or 1989... unfortunately my sea legs were rather weak! I have a poem that a guest wrote and am happy to forward a copy!

I can add something about her charters between 1967 & 1969. As I remember it, the reason for her not succeeding on the Isles of Scilly service was that a helicopter service started around the time that Queen of the Isles was completed. As a result, her owner's plans for an enhanced service suddenly became unprofitable, and they sought to charter her out, perhaps in the hope that traffic would pick up again after a few years. In September 1967, she was chartered by the Bristol Channel operator P & A Campbell Ltd (the White Funnel Fleet) for their excursion service from Llandudno, in North Wales. That covered a brief period when the normal ship St. Trillo had been re-deployed to the Bristol Channel. She was chartered to the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board in May 1968, to operate cruises for their customers, which in previous years had been undertaken by their yacht Galatea. One of the cruises was for some of their employees and families, and that took her off Hilbre Island at the mouth of the River Dee, a most unusual place for any sort of ship. Following that she was again chartered by White Funnel, and operated from North Wales throughout the summer. I had the pleasure of sailing on her from Cardiff to Menai Bridge, when she came north. Out of space. See next message.

I have additional material that I am sure you would be interested in for the Queen of the Isles web site concerning her time as Olovaha. Too much to scan and e-mail. Could you provide me with a name and postal address.

I travelled on the Queen in November 1992 so if Mr. Scanlan hadn’t been an undercover cop there might have been no ship on which to make the trip. We had a fun trip; with the ship about half full there was plenty of room even though the cabin was tight for four including our daughter who was nearly two at the time. The crew had a less jolly time because they were told in TI that they would be laid-off when we arrived in Cairns; there was a near mutiny. Promises must have been made because they came aboard and served us well on the voyage south.

The latest Google map photos show that the Queen has been demolished to the water-line so she is effectively no more.