- The world's only floating submarine museum is on the market after number of visitors drop by 90 per cent
- 'Captain' Richard Williams, 64, built the replica from an old canal narrow boat
- The company was build with the help of a company which worked on the Star Wars and Bond movies
By Sara Malm
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The world's only mobile submarine museum, crafted from an old canal boat, is going on sale after a 90 per cent drop in visitors.
'Captain' Richard Williams is being forced to sell the mock U-8047 after he was made to move the vessel 100 yards from Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds and visitors disappeared.
Only a fifth of the length of a real-life submarine the World War II replica U-boat is priced at 30,000.
Captain: Richard Williams built the replica from an old canal narrow boat and now welcomes visitors to his museum
The boat has been moored outside the Royal Armouries Museum at Clarence Dock in Leeds attracting tourists and museum visitors to come and have a look inside the submarine.
However, a recent request from British Waterways for it to be moved 100 yards away made it less visible to museum-goers, and killing the trade for Mr Williams and his crew.
The self-styled 'Captain' Williams built the submarine from an old canal boat and with the help of a company which supplied props for the Star Wars and Bond movies it was turned into a floating museum.
The mock U-8047 u-boat stands out alongside the other canal boats in its new home the dock unlike its previous spot near the Royal Armouries Museum
The floating museum is a hybrid of a German U-boat and a British Submarine from the Second World War
Captain Williams, 64, said: 'I'm gutted. We were offered a place here, we came here.
'We're all volunteers and don't make any money out of it.
'We suffered the winter and lost a lot of money which we were expecting to make back in the summer, but we are not doing 10 per cent of what we were doing.'
Capt Williams, who spent 50,000 pounds creating the hybrid German U-Boat and British submarine, is hoping the boat can be sold but still run by the current "crew", aided by corporate sponsors, or sold outright.
The boat is a much smaller version of the real thing - only a fifth of the size of a real submarine - and is the only floating submarine museum in the world
If you are not a museum sort of person, the boat is still fully functioning as a narrow boat - but you would probably get some funny looks from the shores
The boat, which has a coning tower, periscope and torpedo room, is being sold with German and British items, uniforms, sonar, whoopar horn and morse key.
Capt Williams added: 'This is a unique opportunity to own the world's only mobile submarine museum, which is based in Leeds but able to travel the canal network.'
The boat is currently operated under the U-8047 Trust, a social enterprise offering children education about German submarines during the Second World War.
Children are allowed free entry and adults are asked to make a 1 pound donation for visits.
The boast cost Captain Williams 50,000 to make and the interior was made with the help of prop-workers from the James Bond and Star Wars movies
Fans of memorabilia and collectors alike can get their hands on the U-8047 for 30,000
so much for helping small business owners. the govt and waterways should be ashamed of themselves.
- steve, newton abbot, 22/7/2012 02:41
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