Explosive wreck bookings surge before mast removal

Tour operators offering excursions to a US Liberty ship which sank in the Thames Estuary off the Kent coast say that the number of bookings is increasing ahead of its masts being removed.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed work on the SS Richard Montgomery will start in September after plans drawn up in 2020 were delayed.

Engineers will work underwater to cut the masts off the World War Two shipwreck, which has 1,400 tonnes of explosives on board.

Martin Harmer, who runs X-Pilot tours to the SS Richard Montgomery from Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey told BBC Radio Kent it is "very spooky as you drift past knowing all the explosives are down there".

The DfT said independent experts had confirmed the £9.5m scheme could be carried out without increasing the risk posed by the explosives which remain on board.

The artefacts will be conserved at Chatham Historic Dockyard.

Harmer said: "People want the chance to see them before they are finally removed and hope they survive the experience.

"We've had emails and calls from people making sure they don't miss out and we have added extra trips as well," he said.

"Most people wish the masts weren't being removed, there's an overabundance of caution surrounding this - they are such a landmark for both the Isle of Sheppey and Southend-on-Sea."

The shipwreck is about 1.5 miles (2.4km) off the coast of Sheerness, having run aground and broken apart in the Thames Estuary in 1944.

Efforts to salvage the vessel were abandoned when it completely flooded just over a month after being grounded.

Work was initially announced in 2020 and planned for June 2022 to minimise the risk of a detonation, but it was delayed.

In June, the US backed plans to keep the masts in the UK after they had been removed.

US Ambassador Warren Stephens said the US government welcomed efforts to honour the memory and keep the masts in the UK for public display.

MP for the Isle of Sheppey, Kevin McKenna, previously said that the masts were "far more than wreckage", describing them as "a cherished landmark linked to an extraordinary wartime story".

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