WHAT LURKS BENEATH THE DEPTHS?

The Kent and Sussex coastline is one of the richest areas in the UK for historical treasure, but before you head off to see for yourself, don’t forget to pack your snorkel and flippers.

There are nearly 4,000 recorded wrecks around the coast. Inside Out begins its search with just two, each hiding a very different cargo - one an unexploded time bomb, the other a goldmine.

Very unusual cargo

Just two miles off the port of Sheerness, Kent, is the Montgomery, one of 2000 liberty ships built by the Americans in W.W.II. Used to transport supplies, this liberty ship had a more unusual cargo than most - 6,000 tons of explosives.

The Montgomery arrived in Kent on the 20th August 1944. Over night, the ship was blown onto shallow sands, where it broke its back and sank.

24 hour monitoring

Although part of the cargo was removed, 3,000 tons of explosives still remain - enough to blow Sheerness itself right out of the water!

The South coast has been the scene of many a shipwreck

Not surprisingly, the wreck is monitored 24 hours a day with an alarm rigged to alert vessels in danger of sailing too near.

But before house prices in Sheerness plummet and everyone heads inland, it’s worth noting that the Montgomery has laid quietly there for 60 years and appears stable.

In fact attempting to relieve the vessel of its volatile cargo could be fraught with more difficulties than leaving it to rest in peace - which we sincerely hope she does!

Illegal cargo

For all the dangers that lie on the sea bed, there are also rewards, as a group of divers discovered to their advantage.

In 1894, off the coast of Dungeness, the Dutch-registered steamship, The Castor, went down in thick fog. She was sailing from Turkey with a highly valuable, but illegal cargo destined for a Dutch museum. The cargo was not to be seen again until the 1990s.

Local divers Colin and Luke recovered seven pieces of marble; two heads and five funerary slabs which turned out to be ancient Greco Roman marbles dating back over 2,000 years.

Far from making them an interesting focal point in their back garden, Colin and Luke declared their find to the receiver of the wreck - not an easy task when the ship sank over 200 years ago.

Generous reward

Many more wrecks are waiting to be explored

After three years of inquiries, the marbles were finally returned to Turkey where they’d been illegally exported 100 years earlier.

The divers did not go away empty-handed, picking up a substantial salvage reward, more than enough to pay for several interesting focal points in their gardens!

So if any budding treasure seekers out there fancy a challenge, there are 4,000 wrecks just waiting to be explored.

But before you grab that wetsuit with pound signs in your eyes - take heed - the goldmine may turn out to be a ticking time bomb!