The Duke Of Lancaster

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The internet is a powerful thing, it’s brings together people from different countries, walks of life and in some instances of different opinions.

It was the internet that brought together two complete strangers in the Summer of 2007.

Those strangers, although not initially evident, had a shared passion, the former passenger and car ferry, The Duke of Lancaster.

In the summer of 1979, the ship, formally belonging to British Rail suddenly appeared in a very small tidal dock on the North Wales Coast at Llanerch-y-Mor.  

The Duke of Lancaster was to be converted into a floating leisure complex, incorporating night clubs, bars, restaurants, cinemas, gaming arcades, a market, hotel rooms and also a small cinema.

The venture never really seemed to gain a foothold and after only a few years trading, the ship was finally closed in the mid 1980's.

Since then the ship has been a huge behemoth, seemingly totally out of place in her new home and through years of fighting against the elements she finally started to show her age. 

Their interest in the ship was for completely different reasons.

Their chance meeting came about on a BBC North Wales discussion site about the ship.

For John Veal, the owner of a number of fruit and vegetable shops in Humberside, it was because he knew the history of the ship and its heritage, primarily because his Uncle, Jack Irwin was the very first master of the vessel when it first went into service in 1957. Over the years John spent a great deal of time researching the ship, gaining a plethora of valuable information.

For Paul Williams, an IT Technician from North Wales, the interest was purely emotional. Paul worked as a life guard for the then Delyn Borough council for three consecutive years in his mid teens and spent the summer of 1984 in the aft wheel house of the ship. It was in the aft wheel house on August Bank Holiday 1984 that his St. Christopher chain broke. It wasn’t until he arrived home that evening that he found out the chain broke at the same time his brother was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Their initial stances on the publically available website were completely different and many funny exchanges took place over the following months, these have been documented later in the series. They can still be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/sites/askalocal/pages/gen11.shtml

Paul’s stance as a local in the area was that the ship was an eyesore and should be scrapped. John’s however was that the ship should be saved due to its maritime importance, sharing as it did the same ship builders as The Titanic, Harland and Wolfe in Belfast.

Three ships of this class were built by different yards, The Duke of Lancaster, The Duke of Argyll and The Duke of Rothesay. They were the last in a long and distinguished line of passenger only railway ferries.

However, The Duke of Lancaster stood out, not only because of a shared heritage with a some of the most famous ships in history but also because she could be converted into a luxurious ocean going liner with very little effort, and as such she was fitted out differently with many additional fixtures over her sister ships.

After two months of jovial banter between the two on the BBC Web site, Paul asked for his real web address to be shared with John.

In the very first email Paul sent to John, he made his private view of the ship apparent to him, that he too felt the ship deserved to be recognized for what it is, and if possible for it to be turned into a viable venture.

This led to the setting up of an appreciation society to gauge public opinion on the ship. From the information received over a period of 12 months, everyone who took the time to write into the web site wholeheartedly believed the same as them.

Numerous attempts were made to make contact with the owners of the ship by e-mail, letter and even visits to the ship.

The closest the pair got was a snatched conversation with the daughter of the ships owner. She directed them to the information on the ship at The Funship Market.

This information opened up a completely new line of enquiry as it included allegations of corruption right to the very heart of the local authority Delyn Borough Council.

From that day Paul and John shared the same thought, that the story of The Funship was one of the most intriguing business ventures that they had heard, fraught with difficulties, adventures and the potential corruption deep within the local council

Over the course of the following 12 months John and Paul were determined to gather as much information as possible on the ship, but it was always second or third hand news, nothing more than quips and anecdotes, what they really needed was the help of the owners of the ship John Rowley and Pat Scott.

From the conversations with Mr. Rowleys daughter, the pair knew that Mr. Rowley spent a great deal of time away from the ship so a meeting was likely to be difficult to arrange.

They also knew that The Ship was an all consuming passion of Mr. Rowley and he had done everything in his power over 30 years to keep the ship safe.

However, John continued to email Mr. Rowley stating his interest in the ship and his willingness to provide assistance in telling the story of the ship.

John Veal’s determination paid off and after many, many years of silence, Mr. Rowley contracted the two in early 2009. Now after many, many hours sifting through Johns memoirs, trips to local archives, collating data and collecting pictures the story is ready to be told.

This web site, each week will contain a serialized extract of the complete story, which will be be available as a complete story are the end.