Duke of Lancaster and its retro arcade games….

I’ve just come across this article which I read with interest as it involved a ship and even more worrying retro arcade games I remember playing when I was a boy.  I can remember when I was about 5 years old being given money to go to my local shop and play these games so funny to see them.

Stricken ship off the North Wales coast

Stricken ship off the North Wales coast

This ship is the Duke of Lancaster.

It’s been docked (shipwrecked) on the banks of an estuary for 37 years.  A colleague has just said to me it looks like a Fred Olsen ship………thats mean!

It started its life as a passenger ferry and cruise liner between 1956 and 1979, when silver service was the norm for passengers who wound their way across the seas from Ireland, Scotland and throughout Europe. According to a website dedicated to the ship, the first class quarters in the late 1950s and 1960s “were the best around”……….mmmm not sure that can be true!

Its last voyage was in 1978 and it was sold to a Liverpool-based company whose intention was to reopen its doors as a dry docked leisure centre attraction.

It was beached at Llanerch-y-Mor in Flintshire in 1979, when the intention was to turn it into a floating leisure and retail complex called The Fun Ship. Flyers were printed and there were grand plans for a hotel conversion and various attractions.

But The Fun Ship’s life was very short and the project never achieved its full potential. There were frequent long-running legal disputes with the local council which led to the ship’s owners walking away.

The ship was closed in the mid-1980s and since then it has been slowly falling apart on the Welsh coastline.

The ship’s owner, John Rowley, has spent the last 30 years trying to get a project off the ground to restore the ship, but has claimed that legal battles have always frustrated his plans.

In 2012, Mr Rowley, who now lives in Romania, allowed several street artists to leave their stamp on the ship.

Old classic Pac-Man

Old classic Pac-Man

But, while the ship has been often photographed over the last 30 years, few people have been inside until recently when an arcade blogger has done an ‘arcade raid’ for his collection.

Obviously this was pre- arranged but its amazing to see some of the old classic arcade games such as Space Invaders, Pac-man, Donkey Kong, asteroids and many more just abandoned on this ship.   Sure some these images will take you back 30 plus years. donkey kong

Such a shame this vessel has been left to rot, it may be too late to do anything to it now as its been there for so long, so scrap may be the only option for this stricken ship.

What do you think could be done?  Have you ever seen a shipwreck up close?  Do you have fond memories of these old arcade games?

As always please get in touch if I can help at all.

Haydn

 

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About Me

Hello everyone, My name is Haydn , I live in Caerphilly South Wales with my wife and 2 young sons. I have been in the Travel Industry for just over 23 years now, specializing in cruising for the last 13 years. I have been on a variety of Cruise ships,…

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