The Ship Sinkers

They’re floating junkyards... moth-balled, decommissioned naval vessels, rotting away in dockyards around the world. Cutting them up for scrap is expensive, and leaving them to fall apart where they are is an ecological nightmare. Sounds like a job for... THE SHIP SINKERS. The Ship Sinkers takes us inside the process of turning ageing, rusting hulks into thriving artificial reefs – from initial cleaning and preparation, to explosives rigging, to the last minute chaos as the clock counts down to zero. With exclusive archival materials from the early days of ship sinkings and stunning new high-definition footage, this programme takes us on a journey from New Zealand, where a former frigate, the HMNZS Wellington, gets a new life underwater, to the British Columbia coast and Florida Keys.