§ Mr. Bostonasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the wreck of the s.s. "Richard Montgomery", which lies off Sheerness.
§ Mr. MayhewThe s.s. "Richard Montgomery" is an ammunition ship which grounded off Sheerness on 20th August, 1944. In 1952, explosives experts considered the whole problem of removing either the ammunition or the wreck and came to the conclusion that it was safer not to disturb them. Last autumn, following sensational magazine and Press accounts of the likely effect of an explosion, a Working Party, including representatives from the Port of London Authority, the Medway Conservancy Board and the Home Office, was set up to re-examine the explosive risks in leaving the wreck alone or in attempting to clear it.
The Working Party has now advised in an interim report that the wreck, and the ammunition in her, should still be left alone, that the likelihood of an explosion is no greater now, indeed possibly rather less, than it was in 1952, and that the results of an explosion, although serious, would not be on anything like
322WDurham are shown in the following table:
the scale forecast in the magazine and Press articles.
The Working Party considered that it would be helpful to have an up-to-date survey made of the wreck, although they did not expect the results of this to affect their interim conclusions.
I have accepted the conclusions of the, Working Party, as have also the P.L.A. and M.C.B. Although, as stated in the House in April, 1952, the "Richard Montgomery" is not the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence, I have agreed, without prejudice to the question of the ultimate responsibility for the wreck, to authorise the use of naval divers, under strictly controlled safety precautions, to carry out a survey of the wreck shortly.