TS Empress Queen

The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s final order of steel-hulled paddle steamers was the SS Empress Queen. After being leased by the Admiralty in 1915, she served as a troop ship until 1916, when she went aground off the coast of Bembridge, Isle of Wight, England.

At 05:00hrs on 1 February 1916, while returning to Southampton from Le Havre with 1,300 men on board, the ship ran high onto the Ring Rocks in Bembridge, Isle of Wight. At the time of the occurrence, there was very little wind and the waters were calm.

Destroyers took off with the troops while the ship’s crew stayed behind to try to save the vessel. Despite high hopes at the outset, it proved to be an impossible task. Within hours, the wind picked up to a gale as the weather changed dramatically. The Queen Victoria launched to save lives from the Bembridge Lifeboat Station.

After cutting off part of his finger while attaching a rope to the sinking ship, Coxswain John Holbrook still made four trips to the shore and back, saving the lives of 110 people. A separate ship came to the help of the remaining nine survivors. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution awarded Holbrook a silver medal for his gallantry.

Unfortunately, the Empress Queen fell victim to the weather and was demolished over a period of years. She quickly became a marker for the ships travelling between Southampton and Portsmouth. Her two funnels were still visible above the sea on the day we announced victory. After a particularly heavy storm the next summer, they disappeared.

“The Empress Queen is said to be the largest and swiftest paddle steamer in existence.”

– A.W. Moore, 1904

• http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/IOM_EmpQueen.html
• http://www.paddlesteamers.info/Turbine%20Steamers/EmpressQueen.htm

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Empress_Queen