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An explorer who entered an abandoned ship which sat untouched on the North Wales coast for three decades was stunned by what he found inside.

The Duke of Lancaster started its life as a passenger ferry and cruise liner between 1956 and 1979, when silver service was the norm.

Its passengers 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".

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.

(Image: Andrew/Flickr) (Image: Aaron/Flickr)

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, reports the Daily Post.

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But The Fun Ship's life was very short and the project never achieved its full potential.

(Image: Andrew/Flickr) (Image: Berit Watkin) (Image: Tudno Media Photography) (Image: Tudno Media Photography)

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.

(Image: Oliver Moazzezi) (Image: Oliver Moazzezi) (Image: Oliver Moazzezi)

(Image: Oliver Moazzezi)

But, while the ship has been often photographed over the last 30 years, few people have been inside.

But a group of arcade machine enthusiasts recently gained access and what they found inside was remarkable.

One of the plans for The Fun Ship was an amusements arcade covering an entire deck. So when it closed over 50 arcade machines "from the golden era" were sealed shut inside the ship.

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A picture of some of these machines surfaced on an urban explorer website and was spotted by arcade machine enthusiasts.

(Image: Oliver Moazzezi) (Image: Oliver Moazzezi) (Image: Oliver Moazzezi) (Image: Oliver Moazzezi)

Tony Temple, who runs The Arcade Blogger , takes up the story.

He reveals how Oliver Moazzezi, a member of arcade machine enthusiast forum www.ukvac.com , then began trying to track down the owners.

Oliver said: "I spent eight months trying to contact the owners of the place I could see the games in.

"I phoned the council, I phoned the Post Office (yeah I really did!) in the town and phoned everywhere, each time getting another clue in the puzzle that would lead me to the owners of this place that had the games in.

"I finally contacted the owners in January 2011 after going through the said local councils, local shops (you name it) and finally got in contact with a family member.

"This family member put me in contact with the owners and we started talking. Two things came out of that. The arcade machines were for sale and I could go see them!"

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Met by the owner at the ship, Oliver and two friends were let in and eventually discovered the arcade.

Oliver was blown away by the discovery.

He told The Arcade Blogger: "I couldn’t believe all these games had been here and then one day in 1983 the ship was shut not to be opened again due to legal issues.

"These games saw year after year of summers and winters through the port holes, the sun rising, the sun setting, FOR THIRTY YEARS."

It took another eight months of going back and forth with the seller to arrange to get the machines off the ship. A price was agreed but then Oliver was given 10 days to remove them or lose them.

And it soon became clear that the only way the arcade machines could be removed from the ship was via the outer deck - in other words, they needed a crane.

One by one, over 50 classic arcade machines were removed.

They are now finding their way into the hands of collectors across Europe and are in the process of being repaired and restored.