Thanks for the link, I had no idea there was a song about the S.S. Richard Montgomery.

I live in Sheerness and cycle along the seafront most days and have seen the barge and attendant tugs at work. It will look strange out there after they have been removed. Our local newspaper stupidly reckons it's known by us locals as the 'Monty'. This is utter nonsense, it's always been known as and referred to simply as 'The Wreck'.

Quite a few years ago I worked for a friend on a trawler based in Queenborough and spent some happy times fishing for Dover Sole off of Sheerness in the early spring. On many occasions we towed near the wreck from the northern side, on the western edge of the Great Nore.

We always had a large bucket of water on hand when we hauled the gear to place, with great care, the dodgy looking bomb fuses that came up mixed in with the catch. This was to stop them 'fizzing' when exposed to air. There were always one or two, sometimes more. At some point part of the cargo must have spilled out with the tidal movements scattering the fuses along along with some artillery shells. Luckily we never hauled up a shell, although over time the odd one or two shells have ended up on the beach.

On the way home we always went as close to the wreck as allowed and very gently put them back in the sea.

Such fun days indeed.