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Manx divers pay respects to sunken Isle of Man Steam Packet Company vessel

Fri, 14 Apr 2023

For the first time in over 80 years, Manx residents have returned to an Isle of Man Steam Packet Company vessel that was lost during ‘Britain’s darkest hour’.

A group of local divers from ‘Discover Diving’ made the emotional visit to the wreck of Mona’s Queen, completing a five-year project to revisit the former pride of the Manx fleet.

Michelle Haywood of Discover Diving said ‘Manx men and women have returned to the Mona’s Queen nearly 83 years after she was lost. I can’t tell you how relieved and elated the team are that we achieved what we set out to do. Dive conditions were best described as challenging, but we adapted our plans to work around the less than ideal weather and successfully placed a plaque close to the wreck.’

Mona’s Queen, one of the most modern and prestigious vessels in the Company’s service, was requisitioned by the Royal Navy in 1939 and went on to serve during the evacuation until she hit a mine in the early hours of May 29^th 1940 and sank with the loss of twenty-four crew.

The dive was initially planned to take place in 2020 to commemorate the 80^th memorial of the loss off Dunkirk. However, due to travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, the trip was postponed indefinitely.

Two other IOMSPC vessels were lost at Dunkirk: The remains of King Orry (which lies in the main channel into Dunkirk harbor) and Fenella (which lies close to the East Mole and the shore) have been largely broken up, but the team visited the sites as close as they could. Mona’s Queen remains substantially complete and largely undisturbed.

Over the course of the operations to evacuate the BEF from France, IOMSPC vessels brought off approximately 25,000 servicemen of various nationalities, and SS Viking assisted in the evacuation of civilians from the Northern ports of France and the Channel Islands in the face of the German invasion.

The memorial plaque carried to the wreck was made by the Steam Packet workshop using the original moulding from one of the lifeboat logos.

The dive team travelled to Dover to meet their charter boat with the intention of spending 5 days of diving on the wreck. The weather and tidal conditions made for challenging circumstances and high winds in the Channel eventually required the mission to be cut short. The images captured in the dives on the wreck will form part of an exhibition running for two weeks around the anniversary this year, and will also contribute to a book that tells the story of the Mona’s Queen from her design, build and launch to her passenger service, wartime service and loss.

 

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