Hello again; I have been a sport diver and i have explored the waters near my home in Halifax Nova Scotia for more than 30 years. In that time I have seen my share of discarded live shells from both wars both on shipwrecks and just lying on the bottom off a pier . Once a few years ago my friends and I were Diving in the harbor off a large pier where cruise ships tie up today we look for old botrtles and discarded ships china that gets turned up by the huge ship's propwash. While exploring in one of these holes made by a ship's thrust I saw a World War Two era live antiaircraft shell (it looked like a 40mm approx ) then i found another, and still another then sticking out of the mud there must have been about a couple of dozen or more !!They must have fallen off a pallet or something while being loaded on a ship, I just left them where I found them .And as far as I know they are still there.
One day during a dive at Rhodos ( Greece ) I have found a Mills Grenade ... But the dive instructor didn't want to call the EOD because he must to stop all the divers at the area ... I have also diving on the Mulberry bridge , Normandy ...
It's amazing someone hasn't blown themselves up when you think of it, with the huge amount of wartime explosives that has been lost and disguarded and brought home as a souvenir . A friend of mine is the curator of a local army museum and he told me about a couple of guys who brought an old footlocker into the museum one day. from what he told me the boys grandfather a world war two army veteran passed away and he wanted his kit to go to the museum, So Bruce opened the locker to inventory it's contents, there was a Canadian army uniform a tin helmet and 2 live mortor rounds !! so he called the guys who brought him the locker and asked them if there were any more boxes, they told him no that was it and it's been in a hot attic for more than 40 years . So Bruce called E O D to come get the live rounds, He has also had people bring in loaded guns, and a box of assorted bits including a live hand granade. Once after diving on a world war one transport wrecked nearby one of the guys pulled up a float line he had sent up from the wreck, so he dropped the bag on the deck and in it was a live artillary shell ! so after a dicussion with him about not wanting to take the thing home and dry it out we threw it overboard. As I said it's a wonder someone hasn't blown themselves up !!
