# Dealing with dangerous shipwrecks **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 19, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-dangerous-shipwrecks/973490 "2022-10-19T14:58:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-dangerous-shipwrecks/973490/1 "2022-10-19T14:58:06Z")
I was reading CNN this morning when I came across an article about a leaky shipwreck in Belgian waters of the North Sea. > **[World War II shipwreck still pollutes the North Sea's ocean floor 80 years...](https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/18/world/wwii-shipwreck-leak-environment-scn/index.html)** > > A World War II shipwreck is still leaking explosives and other elements into the ocean floor of the North Sea 80 years after it sank. It's one of thousands of wrecks that could be influencing the marine environment. I’ve read of dozens, if not hundreds of such wrecks around the world that continue to pollute but are way too dangerous to try to raise/seal/otherwise deal with. This one in particular is polluting through corroding ammunition. Which raised a stupid question in my mind: If the ammo is what is causing the pollution, why not blow it up? A couple of shaped charges should detonate the cargo, thus ridding the ocean floor of continuing pollution. Sure, you get a bunch of chemicals all at once, but most should be converted during the explosion, shouldn’t they? Wouldn’t that be better than decades of slow leakage, with the threat of detonation always present? Then there is the question of the [SS Richard Montgomery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery)… Now that the “best and the brightest” have had their morning coffee, what can be done about these wrecks? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2022, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-dangerous-shipwrecks/973490/2 "2022-10-19T17:08:22Z")
Not just shipwrecks. How about mustard gas dumped off Belgian and Dutch beaches? > **[The Heritage of the Great War / First World War 1914 - 1918](https://greatwar.nl/frames/default-knokkee.html)** > > Article describing the way Belgium handles problem of toxic gas shells from the First World War who lie offshore the beach of Knokke -/- Artikel beschrijft de manier waarop Belgie omgaat met het probleem van de gifgas granaten uit de Eerste... ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2022, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-dangerous-shipwrecks/973490/3 "2022-10-19T17:15:54Z")
Thank you for that link. It answered my first couple of questions about gas shells, ie does water neutralize them? Chlorine I knew wouldn’t be a problem. But mustard gas still would be. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2022, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-dangerous-shipwrecks/973490/4 "2022-10-19T17:20:48Z")
Yes and no. This article says that the cold water can cause chemical reactions that build a « skin » on sulphur mustard, which keeps it from leaking. The cold water also means that sulphur mustard stays solid until brought to warmer temps. But then it can be extremely dangerous, for example to the fishermen in the story who found a lump of sulphur mustard in their nets. > **[Weapons of War Litter the Ocean Floor | Hakai Magazine](https://hakaimagazine.com/features/weapons-war-litter-ocean-floor/)** > > At least one million tonnes of chemical weapons were dumped in the oceans between 1919 and 1980. Now what?