Unexploded suspected Second World War shells found on Leigh beach (From Echo)

Wonder if it's a cockle or winkle shell? Reckon will have gone off already if it dates back to WW2.

It's about time the Americans came over and sorted out the mess they left behind with the Montgomery. Very quick to complain when some oil got spilled, not so quick to act when they leave bombs all over the place.

Nebs wrote:
It's about time the Americans came over and sorted out the mess they left behind with the Montgomery. Very quick to complain when some oil got spilled, not so quick to act when they leave bombs all over the place.

very true, the ss monty is a disaster on a big scale waiting to happen , I worked for an army team working on the clearing of maplin sands of ordnance in the 70s ahead of the maplin airport and there was worry that the monty could go up then , the risk is played down with comments that it will break windows on the seafront in fact there will be no seafront and tons of debris will rain down as far inland as rayleigh and buildings like the vat building will not have a window left, Thorpe bay will end up in rochford , some of the shells on board are the size of your car engine and think of thousands of them dropping out of the sky, at high tide the blast would send a massive tidal wave inland, the bbc did a documentry on the ss monty and experts compared the blast to a small nuclear blast , as for sheerness its goodnight vienna

Matelots, crack squad? Har, har, har!

could get the facts regarding the ordinance on and around the wreck of the Montgomery for once and all?

On previous comment threads we've been told that these explosive devices were not fused and therefore pose no great explosive risk to the area and on others, including the post above, we're told that they are in danger of blowing half of Essex into nothingness.

I think it would be nice if we could have some proper, expert facts to lay this obviously contentious subject to rest.

Could you hear the sea when you held one of the shells to your ear ?

Surely there would only be a big explosion if all of the ordnance went up in one go. Which would be unlikely

Have they actually identified shells as coming from the wreck ?

geezer, innit wrote:
could get the facts regarding the ordinance on and around the wreck of the Montgomery for once and all?

On previous comment threads we've been told that these explosive devices were not fused and therefore pose no great explosive risk to the area and on others, including the post above, we're told that they are in danger of blowing half of Essex into nothingness.

I think it would be nice if we could have some proper, expert facts to lay this obviously contentious subject to rest.

There is expert advice on what to do with the ss monty, trouble is people in power have being burying their heads in thames mud for years , I did not work for some obscure mod department I worked for 71EODSqd which was a bomb disposal unit when the monty was in the way of Maplin airport and even then they knew what would happen if it went bang there has been several expert reports ,the last was used as a basis for a documentry, one cheap idea was to cover it in concrete cheap and cheerful, it is going to break up and some of the ordnance is fused , some is inert , as for the shells found ,the claim they were fired as tests is crap the shells fired in tests were from the shoebury ranges since I think the 19th century and if they were they would be stamped PR which ment proof round so why did they get blown up, I will ask the echo to follow this up and get the reports, as for the comment about matelot crack squad your mum wants you to tidy your room naughty boy

Wonder if the buffoon Boris Johnson is aware of this?
Perhaps somebody should tell him considering he thinks it's such a lovely idea to plonk another airport down on top of it!

Yes, just imagine.

Airport closed, all flights diverted.

As a fisherman has pulled up a hand grenade.

save southend wrote:

geezer, innit wrote: could get the facts regarding the ordinance on and around the wreck of the Montgomery for once and all? On previous comment threads we've been told that these explosive devices were not fused and therefore pose no great explosive risk to the area and on others, including the post above, we're told that they are in danger of blowing half of Essex into nothingness. I think it would be nice if we could have some proper, expert facts to lay this obviously contentious subject to rest.

There is expert advice on what to do with the ss monty, trouble is people in power have being burying their heads in thames mud for years , I did not work for some obscure mod department I worked for 71EODSqd which was a bomb disposal unit when the monty was in the way of Maplin airport and even then they knew what would happen if it went bang there has been several expert reports ,the last was used as a basis for a documentry, one cheap idea was to cover it in concrete cheap and cheerful, it is going to break up and some of the ordnance is fused , some is inert , as for the shells found ,the claim they were fired as tests is crap the shells fired in tests were from the shoebury ranges since I think the 19th century and if they were they would be stamped PR which ment proof round so why did they get blown up, I will ask the echo to follow this up and get the reports, as for the comment about matelot crack squad your mum wants you to tidy your room naughty boy

thanks for your reply. I await the Echo's follow up report on this.

Nebs wrote:
It's about time the Americans came over and sorted out the mess they left behind with the Montgomery. Very quick to complain when some oil got spilled, not so quick to act when they leave bombs all over the place.

I think we forget why the Americans were over here in the first place. A little bit of tidying up behind them isn't too much to ask.