These pictures have kindly been supplied by Robin W Toy
Robin's father was 3rd Engineer on MV Royal Sovereign (IV) and MV Queen of the Channel (1949) until they stopped in 1966. In 1968 Robin was 14 years of age when his father and he watched Queen of the Channel leave the creek at Rochester for the last time. Queen of the Channel had been renamed Oia and left to sail for the Greek islands. Robin's father's full name was James Earnest Toy and he was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1902. After the Second World War he was working for the Acorn Shipyard in Rochester as a marine engineer, when he was offered the post of 3rd Engineer on MV Royal Sovereign in the early 1950's. He was then offered the post of 2nd Engineer on MV Queen of the Channel until she was withdrawn in 1966. All Robin's summer holidays were spent on Queen of the Channel, with many trips to France being spent in the engine room (pictured above), rag in hand. The above pictures are of the 12 cylinder two stroke Sulzer engines on the Royal Sovereign. For more of Robin's pictures, of the Queen of the Channel please click here.