this was the first ship i went to sea on, i think it was 1967. The rest of the crew if i remember rightly were: Capt. Davies, mate Joel perkins,ch. eng far too venerable to ask his name but he came from the Irish Arran islands,2nd eng Bob Craze from Hayle, cornwall.Cook Wilf Gibbons a geordie.bosun Harry Skewes. steward Bill Jeckells, seamen were George Stevens and myself

I remember well, on more than one occasion sailing between Scilly and Penzance on her, in the teeth of a gale, being sick as a dog and for the first half of the trip thinking I was going to die and for the second half of the trip wishing I had.

Ah me! such happy memories, very sad to see what has become of her now though.

Thanks for putting together this site, it's very interesting to read up a bit about something that was apart of my childhood.

JOhn

My First Day in command of the R M S “Queen of the Isles” and the problem of Cold Iron

By the end of 1969 I had spent 5 years with the Trinity House Steam Vessel Service and for most of the time I had been stationed at Penzance serving as Junior and then Senior 2nd Officer in the T. H. V “Stella“. It had been one the happiest times of my life involved in visiting lighthouses such as Godrevy, Longships Bishop Rock, Round Island, Eddystone and Wolf Rock to change the keepers and landing stores of fuel food and equipment. We also visited all the bays around Devon and Cornwall surveying wrecks marking shoals as well as supporting the crews on lightships such as the Seven Stones. Indeed I had also been involved in the wreck of the tanker Torrey Canyon and landed most of the survivors at Penzance.

Now as Christmas approached change was in the air, my promotion was due in the New Year to Chief Officer which would have probably been to a vessel based at Harwich in Essex . So I decided to start looking around for a new job as I did not want to leave my beloved Cornwall. I already held a Foreign Going Master’s certificate and I became aware that the smaller of the two ferries serving the Isles of Scilly from Penzance required a Captain. As the vessel was in Holmans dry dock at Penzance at the time I visited the Isles of Scilly Steamship Office and after an interview with Mr Henry Thomas the man....

Great website - as a visitor to the Scillies and being a bit of an anorak I have scale models of the various scillonians, and I started one of the 'Queen' a couple of years ago to complete the collection. It's been lying on top of the fridge half built since our daughter came along the year after, If I had found your website sooner I may have finished it by now!

I have original scale drawings of the ship produced by the builders if you ever want copies.

Simon Walsh

AWSOME we have fantastic memories of the Queen and would love to get in touch with others that may remember the fun and games on the run from Cairns to T.I. and back. We crewed 1987 & 1988. Would love to get a reunion happening. This is incredible forum to get this started. We have photos lots of photos and stories to go with them. CHEERS Vicki and Tony (Toby)

I was clearing out my mum's loft and came across a book that my Grandad used to make a cardboard model of "The Queen". So I found Myself googleing "The Queen".
My Dad was crew on her from Penzance to Scilly, which is how he met my mother, during her trips from her home on the islands to the mainland.
This website is a fantastic history. It's a sad end(?) (I share your optimism)! of a vessel much loved here in Penzance.
Well done and thank you!

Hi,
A superb & interesting website. Please contact me via solentferries@aol.com as I would very much like to include your website in my Ships on the Web Directory published mobthly inh Ships Monthly.
Many thanks & keep up the good work!
Kind regards,
Andrew

A very interesting web site, well done!
It's good to read about a ship and her chequered history.
During your research did anything come up about a vessel called Western Express? The reason I ask is because I am a member of the MV Cape Don Society ( www.mvcapedonsociety.org.au ) the MV Cape Don was a lighthouse tender built in 1963 and had a colourful carreer after she was retired from lighthouse service at one time being named Western Express and plying around the Pacific.

Hi there I was surfing for background on this ship to post with my photos on shipspotting.com and found your site. very good job, hats off to you. Feel free to use my photos of her if you like. I just scanned them from somewhat faded color slides. view: and

I worked on this ship for a few months in 1992. Interesting to see what came of here. It was intersting to see some familiar faces in your photos