On Wednesday 13th June 1951 the finishing touches were being applied to P & A Campbell’s Empress Queen in readiness for her departure from the Bristol Channel to try her luck running the season for the first time from Torquay.

Returned to her owners in 1947 after war work Empress Queen arrived in Bristol on 18th June 1947 and after a short period running on the Bristol Channel made off for the Sussex Coast in early July. Designed for the cross Channel trade to France, for which she was ideally suited in terms of her covered accommodation and passenger amenities, this service was denied to her at that time by Government regulations in relation to taking money out of the country and visas.

Instead, and in 1948, 1949 and 1950, she offered coastal trips from Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings including as far east as the Dover Straits and westwards to the Isle of Wight, Southampton and very occasionally Bournemouth.