Tsunami fears as divers to take on timebomb wreck
Ship masts must go despite blast risk, says minister
THE masts of a shipwreck with enough bombs to “send a tsunami up the Thames” are set to be removed.
Experts fear the rusting masts of the SS Richard Montgomery could fall through the decks and set off 1,400 tonnes of TNT.
But others believe work on the Second World War vessel could trigger a deadly explosion.
The American ship sank in 1944 after running aground on a sandbank in the Thames Estuary. At the time, it was carrying 6,225 tonnes of bombs and detonators for the Allies.
Some of the deadly cargo was removed but in 1970, the Royal Military College of Science warned that if the rest ever exploded, it would create a towering column of water that would swamp Sheerness, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, and create a 16ft tidal wave.
The Government is offering salvage teams a contract to make the ship safe.
But Ken Rowles, 75, who once made a documentary about the SS Richard Montgomery, said: “One of those bombs could send a tsunami up the Thames.
“The lives at stake are not just the people working on it, but those living in the area.
“Providing it’s left alone, it should be OK – but this is not leaving it alone.” The ship is the most closely monitored wreck in British waters.
Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson said the Government is tendering for the mast removal – likely to be carried out in the spring – with a contract worth “a somewhat fluid figure from £100,000 to £4million”. Kelly Tolhurst, aviation, maritime and security minister, admitted the job “carries risk”.
In a letter to Mr Henderson she wrote: “I appreciate and share the concern you raise for constituents living nearby. It is for this reason that the procurement is being undertaken.
“The Department is seeking to manage the risk by reducing the height and weight of the masts, minimising the potential effect if the bulkhead were to collapse.
“This decision has been taken based on the best available evidence. My officials are working closely with their counterparts in the Ministry of Defence to address and mitigate as much of the risk as possible.
“The mast removal will be led by the Ministry of Defence.”
Leave it alone, or lives of the workers & locals will be at stake
KEN ROWLES WHO MADE A FILM ABOUT THE WRECK