AN HISTORIC vessel on a voyage towards restoration has a new home, albeit a temporary one.

HMS Vigilant, a 1902 customs cruiser, was carefully towed from Faversham to Queenborough earlier this month.

With tug boats at each end, she was manoeuvred backwards out of the creek before being taken to Sheppey.

Owned by the Medway Maritime Trust, Vigilant will eventually be moved to Sheerness dockyard, where she will be returned to her former glory.

Trust chairman Martin Stevens said: "While she's at Queenborough we will design a cradle for her, and she will be lifted out and put on dry land ready for restoration. We've got all sorts of technical brains working on it because she weighs 80 tonnes and is 100ft long."

A rare specimen, finding parts for Vigilant has been far from straightforward and the search has been extensive.

Mr Stevens said: "About seven or eight years ago, we found a super engine and boiler room, but it's in north Cyprus. It was on a tug being used at a copper mine. It had been abandoned on a beach when the Turks invaded.

"It is very rare to find a complete engine room which is exactly the right size for Vigilant. Now it's just a container ride away."

The plan is for the work to be carried out in Sheerness and once revamped, Mr Stevens says, Vigilant will be a spectacular sight.

He said: "She will look like a millionaire's yacht when she's done. This is the type of thing that would steal the show at the Cowes regatta. She's really special."

To find out more, visit www. medwaymaritimetrust.org.uk