The Medway Queen in her hayday.

This was the Medway Queen as I remember her in the fifties being a Whitstable Native and a Man of Kent, you could in fact purchase what we called a "Round Robin" this was a combined Bus, Boat and Rail Ticket, the bus from Whitstable to Herne Bay, board the Medway Queen from the end of Herne Bay Pier, and then set sail for Southend, drop off the day trippers and then on to Clacton, back to Southend, then on to Herne Bay, she then made the trip into the Thames Estuary turning to port and entering the Medway whereby she berthed at Strood Pier for the night, we would alight and walk a short distance to Strood Station and caught the train back to Whitstable, it was a grand day out, and is probably the grounding for my love of the water and my lifelong sailing days.