Displaying items by tag: Thames Shipwreck
On the Thames Estuary and hidden below the waves, reports BBC News, is one of London's most unlikely tourist destinations.
We've travelled about 30 minutes, along with a handful of day trippers from Southend, into the estuary.
Slowly, a set of masts sticking out from the grey waves come into view. This is the SS Richard Montgomery, beached on a sandbank in 1944.
The problem is that the wreck holds 1,400 tonnes of explosives - which could detonate.
The ship is decaying and if the cargo explodes, a huge tidal wave could blast towards the Kent and Essex shorelines and onwards towards the capital.
Richard Bain is from Jetstream Tours, which is seeing an increased interest in trips to see the masts of the SS Richard Montgomery.
For more on the wreck with an exclusion zone around it is located not far from shipping lanes using the Port of London.
Thames Ship Wreck With Thousands of Tons of Explosives Could Cause Beirut-Style Explosion
Almost three weeks ago the massive 'port' explosion which devastated a large swathe of the Lebanese capital Beirut sent shock waves through the world.
But could such a tragedy ever happen here?
The SS Richard Montgomery ran aground and sank just off Sheerness back in 1944.
And as Channel 4's News chief correspondent Alex Thomson has been finding out – the ship’s wreck still contains thousands of tons of explosive ordinance.
For more see the footage on the story here.
