The SS Richard Montgomery was an American Liberty Ship built during WWII to transport amunitions from America to Europe.
The ship ran aground on the 20th August 1944 with nearly 1,500 tonnes of explosives on board. A team from Rochester, Kent was sent to salvage the wreck and this heavy lifting block (one of a pair) was lifted from the ship shortly before the hull cracked on August 24th.
On Monday 25th September, all hopes of raising the wreck were scrapped and the ship was abandoned in its final resting place in the Thames Estuary off the coast of Sheerness where it lays today with many of its explosives still aboard.
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