Fact: The US explosives carrier Richard Montgomery sank in the Thames Estuary in August 1944. It was loaded with 15000 tons of explosive munitions. The Admiralty decided to leave the wreck and its dangerous cargo undisturbed. The wreck lies just a few hundred yards offshore between an oil refinery and the several towns. Southend on Sea is just a couple of miles away on the other side of the Thames estuary. Rumours about the ship and its cargo have circulated in these towns ever since. Denials have been issued by ministers in the House of Commons in response to MPs questions about the presence on board of biological, chemical and gas warheads.
Nevertheless, rumours persist that the real reason the wreck was not made safe was because of the existence of 'dirty weapons' on board.
A British intelligence officer with heavy gambling debts knows there are dozens of drums of mustard gas as well as high explosives on the Richard Montgomery. He recruits two ex-special services and one ex-IRA member to mine the sunken cargo with an electronic detonator operated by mobile phone. They pretend to be an al-Qaeda group and demand a pay-off from the British government of fifty million in uncut diamonds to defuse the bomb. They are obliged to kill a man and his mother who accidentally dial the mobile phone number. An American trio of navy men are sent by the Americans to help with the problem. The conspirators have a suicide bomber waiting to collect the pay-off. He is a leukaemia sufferer and agrees to collect the diamonds with a bomb attached to his body.
The conspirators kill the ex-IRA man when he reveals that he did not really set the bomb fuse. They are obliged to return to the wreck but encounter the Americans inspecting the wreck There is an underwater fight in which one American and one conspirator are killed.
The suicide bomber collects the ransom in a public place and passes the diamonds to his accomplices. He then accidentally blows himself up in Hyde Park.
The American navy man becomes suspicious of the principal conspirator and follows him to a meeting with the last remaining ex-special services man. A fight in a department store in which the American kills the ex-service man and pursues the principal to the top of centre point overlooking Oxford Street. A shoot-out results in the principal conspirator falling to his death on top of a lamp-post with diamonds showering down around him. Ironically, a passing tramp, unaware of the body above him, picks up diamonds and shards of glass but discards the diamonds in favour of a long glistening shard of glass.
(c) 2000-2006 Ron Angel and Tom Deegan all rights reserved
