Beaufort’s Dyke: The UK’s Largest Offshore Munitions Dump
Munitions Dumping At Sea
Beaufort’s Dyke is a narrow trench, 50km long and up to 300m deep, located in the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland.
From 1945 to 1973 this natural depression was the designated munitions disposal site for the British Army. It is estimated that over a million tons of conventional munitions, ranging from Small Arms Ammunition (SAA) to heavy aircraft bombs were dumped there during the 20th century, with some sources suggesting dumping began as early as 1920.
Between July and October 1945, some 14,000 tons of 5-inch (’’) artillery rockets filled with phosgene gas were dumped into the trench.
During the 1950s and 1960s it is understood that at least two tons of radioactive waste was also dumped into the dyke by private defence contractors.
Since the official cessation of disposal activities in 1973 there has been evidence of sporadic underwater explosions at Beaufort’s Dyke. An analysis of seismic data by the British Geological Survey (BGS) confirmed that 47No. significant explosions originated from the dyke between 1992 and 2004.
In 1995 substantial quantities of WWII-era British Incendiary Bombs (IBs) washed up along the west coast of Scotland. These bombs contained phosphorus and still remained hazardous; liable to cause burns if picked up.
Enquiries in the 1990s by the Fisheries Research Services (FRS) Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen found significant quantities of munitions remained in situ outside the official dump site, and it is known that during the 1940s some ships would discharge their cargoes only a few hundred metres from the shore in poor weather conditions.
To this day records of dumping activities at Beaufort’s Dyke remain sparse, and the exact volume and type of materials disposed of is unknown.
As with all offshore sites in the UK, disposal of munitions at sea may provide a potentially significant source of UXO hazard to the local marine environment, and these activities should always be considered as part of any prudent marine-based UXO risk assessment.
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