Tuesday 10 November 2009

LESS MYSTERY

The black-and-white vessel on the left in the picture above was described in a previous post as 'a mystery ship in 1960s at the Foryd harbour'. Hints and tips from Peter Trehearn, Captain Brian McManus (Merchant Navy, retired), Bill Ellis and Mr. John Povah (fisherman) have combined to produce the following information:

It was an old ship's lifeboat made of metal. The boat was acquired by Frank Urmston who was a prominent member of Rhyl Yacht Club and the proprietor of Hawaiian Eye travel agency in Kinmel Street. Mr. Urmston turned the boat into a replica of HMS Conway, a training ship which had local connections and had been destroyed in 1950s.

Mr. Urmston used to refer jokingly to his boat as 'HMS Conway' and it was only 36 feet in length. The masts were mainly for show; it was a motor-driven cabin cruiser. The cruiser was used for two or three years in late '60s until structural problems developed and some damage occurred, then it was scrapped. It lies buried at the Foryd.

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