Flintshire, Wales

Duke of Lancaster

Abandoned ship reimagined as a street art canvas.

This rusting passenger ship has been reimagined as a giant canvas for street artists from around the world.

Started in fall of 2012 by the DuDug Collective, their name a play on “Black Duke” in Welsh, the project to bring international street artists to paint over the hull and sometimes the interior of the ship is only one stage of the Duke of Lancaster’s story of rebirths. The Duke of Lancaster was originally a passenger ferry launched in 1956, then left in its current dry dock in the Dee Estuary in northern Wales where it became a nightclub called the Funship in the 1980s.

The second phase of the street artists’ collaboration with the worn surface of the massive ship (all done with permission from the ship owners) started in March 2013, and there are plans to open the whole interior as a giant art gallery.

Update June, 2017: The ship has been painted painted black on almost none of the artwork remains (one small piece on a lifeboat and some partial work on the windows). According to the bartenders at the pub across the street, it was painted over for a film and/or a BMW commercial.

Update September 2018: According to the Daily Post, the ship will be reopened as a new zombie-themed attraction in early 2019.