I have been aware of this old ship 'docked' at Mostyn for at least 20 years but had never ventured a closer look until I saw a newspaper article recently regarding the work of graffiti artists on the old rusting hull. Having decided after so long to visit, if the disappointing light wasn't enough to spoil my day, the fact that I discovered the site is closed to the public really upset me. Not only did I find there was a razor wire topped steel fence surrounding the ship, but there was a permanent guard sat in a little cabin watching the approaches too. To make matters worse there was a sign warning of a guard dog and skull and crossbones symbols reminiscent of those warning you are entering a minefield. Altogether they shouted, "No Entry!"
Well, b-----r that I thought. 55 years on this planet and I'm reluctant to succumb to the aging process and give up doing the things I used to do when I was younger. Backing away I used the sea wall and shape of the coastline as cover so that by keeping low I managed to work my way round the back. It was low tide and I got down below the stern of the ship on the blind side of the guard and came up behind some stacks of railway sleepers and piles of boulders from where I could shoot. Fortunately I had just slipped back out by the time he emerged to do another patrol round the site. From the outside of the fence I shouted over, "Is it OK for me to come in and take some photos?" It would have been nice if he had said "Yes" but I wasn't too upset when he said, "No, no-one is allowed in!"
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On August 10th, 1979, a former Sealink passenger ferry called “The Duke of Lancaster" was beached at Llanerch-y-Mor in North Wales with the intention of turning it into a floating leisure and retail complex called The Fun Ship but the project never achieved it’s full potential due to many long running legal disputes with the local council.
Make no bones about it, until it was converted into a car ferry she was one of the finest vessels afloat at the time. The first class quarters in the late fifties and early sixties were the best around, silver service restaurants, state rooms and luxurious cabins. In fact, the facilities and the accommodation on board Lancaster were so good she was frequently taken out of her usual ferry service and used as a cruise liner with frequent annual cruises around Scotland, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean
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The artists keen to get involved and leave their mark on the Duke of Lancaster begin to come flooding forward and October sees two more artists leaving their ‘corrupt’ statements. Bristolian artist, Bungle, creates his imposing character, ‘The Face of Authority’. This piece was the biggest challenge the artist had ever taken on and the finished result is an intimidating and impressive figure
The Duke's rusting hull has lain derelict off the North Wales coast for 28 years, a corroding bulk jutting into a dramatic seascape. But now, as Darren Devine reports, moves are underway to turn decaying cruise liner the Duke of Lancaster into an open-air gallery
Maurice Blunt had drifted away from the street art scene that defined her teenage years when she spotted the Duke of Lancaster from a train.
For Blunt the moment was an epiphany that left her almost wanting to pull the train’s emergency handle as a vision of “something special” flashed through her mind.
The moment would re-awaken her slumbering enthusiasm for street art and crystallise her role in a movement she both loved and felt semi-detached from.
Her vision was to transform the Duke of Lancaster from a long-forgotten liner into an open-air gallery bedecked in the creations of some of Europe’s edgiest and best-known street artists.
Blunt, who has called her project DuDug (a Welsh play on words for the Black Duke), said: “ I got in touch with some of my old contacts and ran the idea of painting her by them.
“Some were happy to help, others had retired and some new fresh names were thrown into the pot.”
Nowadays she is a 38-year-old Manchester and Dublin-based events coordinator. But Blunt says that although when she was a teenager she admired the work of friends, her own lack of artistic talent meant she was never fully immersed in the culture of street art.
Read more: Wales Online www.walesonline.co.uk/news/need-to-read/2012/12/14/graffi...
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Dudug unleashed their first artist to work his magic on the ship. The chosen artist and ideal man for the job was notorious Latvian Street Artist KIWIE. He attacked in style creating videos under the guise of bombing the ship illegally without permission. He created two pirate characters which perfectly fitted in with the corruption theme. The website was launched on the night the work was unveiled and the local press were quick to cover the story. KIWIE soon followed up with the true video account of what happened – that he wasn’t there illegally and had been invited by Dudug
A STREET artist from Latvia has been revealed as the man behind the Duke of Lancaster ship graffiti artwork in Mostyn.
The artist, who goes by the name of Kiwie, is from Latvia, and spent 28 hours at the site of the ship, which has been landlocked at Llanerch-y-Mor, near Mostyn, painting two giant pirate ‘Kiwies’ on its sides.
Kiwie, who comes from Riga, explained how he came to be involved with creating the giant graffiti artwork.
He said: “I was told of the Duke from a friend last year and from the moment I saw it I thought ‘wow’. I then found the ship on a number of art blogs and I posted ‘I want to bomb that ship’.
“Nothing happened but then I was suddenly contacted via email in July who told they could make it happen if I was serious. I booked my tickets the following week and I sent back a list of materials the other way which I would need.
“I like to travel around and leave my mark on as many places as possible. My goal is to paint in every city around the globe.
“(The character’s) name is Kiwie. I created this character a while ago, and that’s my iconic mark. Its main goal is to inspire people to do crazy stuff even if it looks impossible. My ideology is based on ‘create not destroy’.”
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However, DuDug has finally allowed her to carve out a role in the movement she has so long admired – as a fixer bringing together some of its most talented artists on a project like the Duke.
The result is the Duke’s rusting hull is now decorated in a series of arresting images after Blunt convinced the ship’s owners John Rowley and Patricia Scott street art could help revive its faded glory.
Graffiti artists from throughout Europe have contributed to the images now sprayed across the ship’s hull.
Latvian Kiwie sprayed two pirate-like characters, while French painter Goin depicted the Council of Monkeys.
Other contributions have come from colourfully-named graffiti artists including Bungle, Mr Zero, Sweet Toof, Soulful Collective and Colwyn Bay-based Cream Soda Crew.
DuDug aims to transform The Duke into the largest open air art gallery in the country.
Blunt says she already has 22 artists signed up to the project and is negotiating with many more.
The ship, which has been docked in the harbour at Mostyn Docks since 1979, had previously been destined to be a floating leisure complex.
But after a number of disputes with the council the owners were unable to progress their plan and it has remained docked and unused since 1984.
Built in 1956 by Harland and Wolff – who famously designed the Titanic – while open in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a fun ship it was the third highest rated attraction in North Wales in terms of visitor numbers.
The Duke’s first class quarters are said to have featured silver service restaurants, state rooms and luxurious cabins when the cruise liner toured around Scotland, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.
Paul Williams, who is a founder member of 1,000-strong Duke of Lancaster Appreciation Society, said internally the ship has an eerie and ghostly feeling with all its fixtures and fitting surviving from the days when it last functioned as a fun ship.
IT consultant Mr Williams, 44, from Greenfield, in Flintshire, said: “It’s like a time capsule. Her internal fittings are in extremely good condition, with the notable exception of the mindless vandalism of windows being taken out by kids with rifles and catapults.”
Mr Williams, who worked on the ship as a lifeguard coordinator in 1984 and wants to see the whole vessel functioning as a gallery, added: “If you walked into the bar it’s still pretty much as it was when the ship stopped trading.
“The tables are in place, the chairs are all there, the fixtures and fittings in the cafeteria are in extremely good condition.”
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