Builders: J Reid & Co Port Glasgow 1902
Propulsion type: Paddle Compound Diagonal by Barclay Curle & Co
Owner: Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Co Ltd.
Service dates: 1902 - 1939
Tonnage: Gross 345
Comments:
Launched on 10 May 1902 as Queen, this steamer is unique in that she had two changes of name without any change of ownership. In 1936 she was renamed Mauretania in arrangement with the Cunard White Star Line, who wished to preserve the name for future use. When the name was required for their new liner in November 1937 she was renamed Corfe Castle until the end of her career after the 1938 season. Queen had two rather tall, narrow funnels forward of her paddle boxes and had narrow saloons, both fore and aft, surrounded by a full width promenade deck. She sailed from Southampton and sometimes Portsmouth then from Bournemouth, Swanage and later Poole.
On 1 September 1908 she was returning to Southampton from an excursion to Brighton, when she was nearly lost. She left Brighton at around 16.00 and ran into gales and rain off Bognor. The winds drove her aground on a sandbank and whilst she managed to get off after an hour and continued her voyage, she was swamped by heavy seas and driven onto rocks after her rudder had been disabled. At around 03.00 the next morning she was reached by a lifeboat who managed to take off some women & children, but conditions worsened and it was morning before more passengers could be taken off. The lifeboat, too was damaged and could not rescue any more passengers. Eventually, after much of her woodwork had been torn away, her windows smashed and water had come into her saloon, she was reached by tugs who towed her to Ryde so that she could land her remaining passengers at 18.00 on 2 September.She was then towed to Southampton for repairs.