Historic Significance

The SV May Queen is an excellent example of the Tasmanian sail trading ketch - shallow draft vessels that generally had a retractable centreboard allowing them to enter river mouths to load and unload produce, prior to the development of an effective road transport system. During her 106 year working life as a sail trading vessel (1867-1973) the SV May Queen was largely used by Henry Chesterman and his successors in the business Chesterman & Co.

She was used to carry sawn timber, shingles and railway sleepers to Hobart for use as primary construction materials for houses and industry.
She also carried coal, quarried stone, apples, pears and other seasonal fruit.

On her outward bound journeys from Hobart she carried supplies including hay and oats for the bullock teams used to pull logs to the mills, steel railway lines, boilers and steam engines. The SV May Queen operated mostly in south east Tasmania with her predominant use carrying sawn timber from Chesterman & Co's Raminea sawmill at the mouth of the Esperance River near Dover to Victoria Dock in Sullivans Cove Hobart, a journey she could undertake in 8 hours in fair weather.

Trading ketch races were a feature of many local regatta's particularly the Royal Hobart Regattas (known as Cock of the Derwent Race), up until 1954.
There was intense rivalry between the ketches when they raced for the honour of flying the Golden Cock.

SV May Queen raced with great success, winning her first Royal Hobart Regatta in 1868 and competing in the last trading ketch race in 1954, coming second to the SV Lenna. During the first division races between 1882 and 1954 SV May Queen notched up nine firsts, eight seconds and two thirds, the record.
In the late 1970's and early 1980's, decked with flags, the SV May Queen was used as the flagship for the annual Sandy Bay Regatta.

At the end of her working life SV May Queen was gifted to the Tasmanian Goverment by the then owners H Jones & Co and passed into the care of the Marine Board of Hobart by Premier Eric Reece "To be preserved as a reminder of Tasmania's maritime history".

The relatively modern motor and propeller were removed and the masts and bowsprit repaired and the rigging replaced to bring her back to pre-1954 condition.
A steel beam was place under the keel to prevent her dropping at the bow and stern and to give the hull stabillity.

In 1997 the Marine Board of Hobart became a state owned company called "The Hobart Ports Corporation Pty Ltd" which was unable to justify the continuing ownership and the ongoing maintenance of the SV May Queen.