BACK IN HARWICH
After losing her anchor in heavy seas, the 'Communicator' sailed into Harwich under her own steam, newspaper reports indicated this was on the instructions of the owners, who'd decided to sell off the radio equipment and break up the ship for scrap. On arriving at Parkeston Quay the ship was inspected by Customs and Department of Trade & Industry officials. Around midday on the 5th February 1987 the ship was moved from Parkeston Quay, up the River Stour to Erwarton, close to where it had been moored over a year before. Before the move, some of the studio equipment had been removed and since then the studios have been more or less completely stripped out. The DTI also returned and disabled the transmitters. The ship was then been moved to an anchorage by a scrap yard at Mistley near Manningtree. Local paper "The Standard" quoted a spokesman of the Communicator's agents "Harwich Marine Services", on 5th February 1988, "she will probably end up going to a breakers yard. There is no way she will be used for what she has been used for again".

Communicator at Mistley