Career-Ending Crash of the HMS Montague.....

The fate of HMS Montague was not the one intended when she was built…owing to navigational confusion during a communications exercise and thick fog she became grounded on the rocks surrounding Lundy and became - instead of a functioning battleship with the  latest radio technology - a local tourist attraction…postcards were made, tourists came by the boatload, she was dressed for royal birthdays and weddings and 21 gun salutes fired…but eventually despite an ongoing salvage operation, first by the Admiralty and then by a private firm she broke up on the rocks and became another feature of Lundy’s seascape, dived by recreational divers who collected the ship’s badge, speaking tube and shell cases – now proudly on show at the Illfracombe Dive Club…most recently Wessex Archaeology were asked to assess whether the wreck was important and should be protected…cue lots of amazing Dr Keith Hiscock underwater photos…this work is ongoing, but they will make their results public and are working with divers from Help for Heroes…