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If the recent history of social media has taught us anything, it's that not dealing with a problem when it first arises can lead to situations that are unstable and liable to explode at any moment.
These particular undesirable posts belong to SS Richard Montgomery.
These particular undesirable posts belong to SS Richard Montgomery.
In 1944 the whole world was consumed by something that even the BBC's political editor might describe as a spirited disagreement. The supply lines across the Atlantic were heavily dependent on Liberty Ships, simple, cheap, and quick to build.
Amongst those Liberty ships was SS Richard Montgomery. In August 1944 she left Philadelphia with around 7,000 tons of explosives destined for Cherbourg, which had recently fallen to the Allies despite firmly stated demands for a recount.
The Axis being somewhat unhappy about recent events in France, ships would almost always travel in convoys for protection. Awaiting a convoy to France, Richard Montgomery was directed to anchor off Sheerness.
There seems to have been some controversy over this instruction. The anchorage had about thirty feet of water at low tide and the Richard Montgomery was loaded to thirty-one. The mathematicians amongst you may notice a problem here.
Regrettably though the Richard Montgomery wasn't hanging about to test the theory. On the 20th of August it dragged its anchor (or possibly swung on the tide, by some sources).
Attempts from other ships to warn the officers of the Richard Montgomery of their danger went unheeded - the Captain was asleep and the Chief Officer failed to take action - and the Liberty ship ran aground on the Sheerness Middle Sand.
By low tide the plates were already buckling. Aware of precisely what lurked below the decks the crew - perhaps wisely - seem to have scarpered.
Can't really say I blame them.
Can't really say I blame them.
Despite the best efforts to lighten the ship by removing cargo, Richard Montgomery was already doomed. A crack opened up and the first three holds flooded. By the second week of September it had split in two - a notorious weakness in the Liberty ship design.
The rear two holds were emptied completely, but around 1,400 tons of munitions remained within the forward holds. With the ship continuing to shift, and a war to concentrate on, efforts to salvage them came to a halt.
Faced with a massive amount of TNT and other explosives sitting just off the edge of a major shipping lane, the authorities lost no time in tacking action. The wreck was marked and signs hastily added advising people not to crash into it.
And, er, that's it.
And, er, that's it.
The wreck remains on the sandbank where it grounded, although the sand underneath has been scoured away. It continues to break up and collapse, and nervous noises have been made about what might happen next.
A report in 1999 looked at all the options and concluded that the best option for dealing with the potentially explosive wreckage was... to carry on leaving it alone.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/851520/1999_survey_report_montgomery.pdf
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/851520/1999_survey_report_montgomery.pdf
The TNT is almost certainly still explosive, and the fuses can react to produce unstable compounds. It's hoped that these are soluble in water...
And the decision to do nothing is also informed by the attempts to salvage munitions from the Kielce, another ship that sank off with a load of munitions off Folkestone.
In retrospect the decision to use explosives to get at the cargo was unwise.
In retrospect the decision to use explosives to get at the cargo was unwise.
Were the SS Richard Montgomery to go up it would undoubtedly be spectacular. Crueller critics have noted it has the potential to inflict millions of pounds of improvements to Sheerness, as well as providing significant income for local glaziers.
For now, however, it sits there sulking, holed beneath the waterline and hopefully doing nothing wildly dangerous whilst the regular reports chart its collapse.
And if that's not a metaphor for the world today, I don't know what is...
And if that's not a metaphor for the world today, I don't know what is...
PS - more details about the ship available here: https://www.submerged.co.uk/montgomery/
And the survey reports are here, with lots of interesting scans etc: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ss-richard-montgomery-information-and-survey-reports
And the survey reports are here, with lots of interesting scans etc: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ss-richard-montgomery-information-and-survey-reports
