passengers and crew were rescued by the Medway Queen without loss of life and, heavily overloaded, she made the harbour. On her second trip she took about 450 soldiers directly off the beach; this required more skill, but was much faster. Soldiers used a technique with oily bags to conceal their distinctive wash from patrolling aircraft. On later trips, the Medway Queen penetrated the damaged Dunkirk port and took off men from a concrete jetty or mole. Men were discharged at Ramsgate rather than Dover, where the vessel was fuelled and reprovisioned. On Monday 3 June Vice Admiral Ramsey gave the order that all ships were to leave Dunkirk by 2.30 the following morning. This was the Medway Queens seventh trip. She was at the mole in Dunkirk when a destroyer moored astern of her was driven forwards by an explosion and smashed her starboard paddle box, she sustained considerable damage. Medway Queen limped back to Dover with 400 French soldiers on board. On arriving back at Dover the crew of the Medway Queen discovered that the Admiralty had reported their ship as having been sunk (news which was reported throughout the UK); the Admiralty published a correction the following morning. Her crew gained seven awards for gallantry – two Distinguished Service Crosses, three Distinguished Service Medals and two mentions in dispatches – having made seven crossings and rescued 7,000 men. In view of this remarkable achievement in rescuing so many Allied troops from France, she earned the title of "The Heroine of Dunkirk". After repairs in Portsmouth Dockyard, she returned to minesweeping duties, and in 1942 she was converted to a minesweeping training ship, serving out the war in this capacity, and was returned to her owners in January 1946. Return to service Rebuilt by Thornycrofts of Southampton in 1946, she returned to civilian service with New Medway Steam Packet Company for the 1947 season. Medway Queen attended the 1953 Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead. She made her last sailing on 8 September 1963, and was scheduled to be scrapped in Belgium. The Belgian ship-breaker, upon discovering that the vessel he was expecting to break up was "The Heroine of Dunkirk", declined to continue (it is reported that he felt that no one should dare to destroy such a gallant and important little ship). The Daily Mail campaigned to save her. Use as nightclub Having been saved from scrapping,