Still on shipwrecks. I meant to write this last night, but worked late last night and was so tired by the time I got back to my flat, I just fell asleep without turning on the PC. Fortunately I had already told Nick my interesting fact for the day, just didn't have the chance to inform any on-line readers. So here goes.

There is a cargo ship in the Thames Estuary that was sunk during WW2. It was carrying supplies to the UK and held over a thousand tons of high explosives (and low explosives) when it sank. That ship and the explosives are still there and could go off at any time, as it slowly rusts on the bottom of the estuary.

The anchor broke and it initially ran aground on a sandbar. Much of the cargo was removed, before it flooded and sank.

The condition of the ship is monitored, by the Coastguard, but because of an explosion during an attempt back in the 60's to remove explosives from a similar sunken ship, it was felt to leave things as they are.

It seems that various chemical reactions between the various elements of the explosives and the metals within the ship itself, makes the left explosives more reactive.

The last thing I remember, is that if it does explode, it will generate a large wave, and the every window in the local village will be broken and many buildings will be damaged.