The man who owns the TSS Duke of Lancaster ship has critised urban explorers who broke into the vessel by "scaling the anchor chain" earlier this week.
John Rowley, who owns the dry docked vessel in Mostyn, says it was "raided" on Sunday night and Monday night. The ship has not been used since the 1980s and has become something of a local curio in subsequent decades for people who have caught a glimpse of it while driving past on the coast road in Flintshire. In 2014, it was painted black in a move that proved contentious with residents after a Latvian graffiti artist had been commissioned to spray paint the ship only two years prior. In 2016, a group of people gained access and were amazed at what they found.
But in the last week it has attracted some unwanted attention by urban explorers who broke into the ship in order to get a closer look and to explore the hull. North Wales Live reported that according to Mr Rowley, the urban explorers "climbed over razor wired security fencing, scaled an anchor chain to get on an upper deck of the ship and then broke inside from there after helping others get onboard."
In response to the incident, Mr Rowley said: "The so-called urban 'explorers' is just a tag they have latched onto as a burglar's cover whilst seeking glorification of their actions. The ship was raided two nights running. The second night at the ship they were rumbled by the watchman who asked them to leave."
He said he had to call the police over fears for his safety. He added: "Llanerch y Môr dock is a remote location anyway so the watchman is vulnerable the best of times. If there was a code of conduct I wouldn't necessarily be against urban exploring."
He said: "They have complete disregard for CCTV monitoring as they believe the excuse of 'only trespassing' will let them off the hook if they get caught.
"In our case they ignored the security cameras, climbed over razor wired security fencing, scaled an anchor chain to get on an upper deck of the ship and then broke inside from there after helping others get onboard. The police or the government have to do something about all this as at the moment anarchy rules."
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