00:00The SS Montgomery has sat on the sandbank here for 80 years, but now no sign of it remains above
00:07the water.
00:08Over the past month, one by one, each iconic mast has been painstakingly removed from the wreck, watched on by
00:16residents.
00:16I have a camera, a telescope camera, and I have that focused on the wreck.
00:21Initially it was for my own interest to watch what was going on, but I thought this stream is so
00:27good I'm just going to put it online.
00:28So that's what I did.
00:30Now I'm still on the beach next to Marine Parade where Robin lives, and in the distance I can just
00:35about see Richard Montgomery, although it is very small.
00:39In 1973 it became the first wreck to be designated as dangerous.
00:44It's one of the biggest such wrecks in the world, if not the biggest, that is anywhere near civilisation.
00:52And with the tonnage of that weight of unexploded munitions, it's massive on a worldwide scale.
00:591,400 tonnes is about a tenth of a Hiroshima, so you have to put in that kind of perspective
01:06as to what could happen.
01:08Robin's built a website and has now written a book about living so close to the ship.
01:13He says it will be odd to see the masts finally gone.
01:17It is a landmark. It's been there 82 years, it's recognisable, and you'll gaze across there and all you're going
01:23to see is the wind turbines over in Essex.
01:26But I think the thinking is going to be gone but not forgotten.
01:30We're going to remember what's down there and at some point it seems likely they will have to remove the
01:36munitions.
01:37This mast removal buys a lot of time, but somewhere down the line they've got to get rid of the
01:43munitions too.
01:43The Maritime and Coast Guard Agency say the cargo is likely to remain stable if left undisturbed,
01:50and that they don't believe there is an immediate threat.
01:53But as the visual of the ship disappears from Kent's coastline,
01:57only the warning boys remain as a reminder of the risk that lies in the deep.
02:02Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Sheppey.
