Built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast in 1956 for the British Railways Board.The 4,450t ferry DUKE OF LANCASTER could accomodate 600 1st.and 1,200 2nd.class passengers and initially worked the Heysham-Belfast route.She differed from her 2 sisters,Argyll and Rothesay,in that she was fitted out for cruising as well and she did indeed cruise to Norway,Denmark,Holland,Spain and around the Western Isles of Scotland.She survived until 1978 when she was bought by a company who intended her to eventually become a hotel and in 1979 she arrived at Llanerch-y-Mor near Mostyn in North Wales. Needless to say the plans came to nought and after a few years as a 'fun' ship, she was abandoned and she languishes today embedded in concrete rusting away by the main North Wales coast road.Photo 1994.