Wrecks mark the spot

WE'VE got the wrecks factor! Yesterday the Daily Star revealed that remains of a British ship with a cargo of riches may have been found. It's reckoned that the Recovery, which sank in 1787 stuffed with marble and bronze artworks, has been identified off the coast of Ireland. There are an estimated 40,000 shipwrecks around the British Isles and here JAMES MOORE tells some of their fascinating stories...

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Blow me! The SS Montgomery, lying in the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, Kent, is the nation's most dangerous wreck.

The World War Two US cargo ship ran aground in 1944 loaded with 1,400 tonnes of high explosives. Its masts still peep above the surface warning of the dangers below.

If the vessel ever detonated, it could cause local devastation.

Mystery blast: One ship that really did blow up in the Thames Estuary was HMS London in 1665.

Diarist Samuel Pepys recorded the loss of the Navy craft, which sank killing 300 people.

The wreck was rediscovered in 2005, but the exact cause of its demise remains unknown.