Close-up footage filmed this morning (May 30) of the UK's most dangerous shipwreck - SS Richard Montgomery - in the Thames Estuary 1.5 miles north of Sheerness in Kent.

The WW2 American Liberty cargo ship sank off the Kent coast in August 1944, with an estimated 1400 tonnes of explosives still onboard.

The ship's three masts are due to be cut off due to severe corrosion, to avoid the risk of setting off the cargo were they were to fall on the cargo below.

Work on the 'mast trimming' is expected to start in June as part of a £5 million operation.

The wreck is surrounded by a buoyed 'exclusion-zone' which craft must not enter, and which is monitored 24/7 by Port of Sheerness on behalf of the UK Coastguard.

Footage at the end shows three huge missile-proof gas storage tanks on the Isle of Grain in the distance, whose close proximity to the wreck site concerns some experts.