A "DOOMSDAY wreck" whose bomb-filled hold threatens to unleash a tsunami in the Thames may carry another deadly cargo. The SS Richard Montgomery sank in the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, Kent, in August 1944, taking some 1,400 tons of American bombs to the bottom.
![[The SS Richard Montgomery sank in the Thames Estuary in August 1944]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/credit-mca-via-pen-news-919663192.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
But Southend councillor Stephen Aylen fears that the wreck, which lies just eight miles from his constituency, carried a second, "far more sinister" cargo - mustard gas. He cited the example of another Liberty Ship, the SS John Harvey, which was dispatched to the Mediterranean theatre with a secret shipment of the killer gas.
![[There is concern that if the ship's masts collapse it could spark an explosion]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2024-close-up-pictures-ss-920376809.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
But the ship was sank by the Luftwaffe off Bari, Italy, in December 1943, unleashing its deadly cargo and killing dozens, with hundreds more injured. Mr Aylen asked: "Is there something like that on the Montgomery? Is there something far more sinister on that ship than we're being told about?.
![[Some 1,400 tons of WW2 explosives were on board]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/credit-pen-news-pen-news-919663205.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
"Because nobody will say exactly what's on it still.". Fearing that a desperate Hitler might turn to chemical weapons, the Allies dispatched mustard gas to Italy so they could quickly respond. But the gas was banned by the Geneva Protocol, and was sent with such secrecy that its presence in Italy wasn't acknowledged even after it was accidentally unleashed.
Mr Aylen argued that if Hitler was thought desperate enough to use chemical weapons after the Allied invasion of Italy, then the situation in August 1944 was even worst for him. D-Day had taken place in June, and Hitler had given his forces permission to withdraw from Normandy mere days before the SS Richard Montgomery sank.
