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A local magnet fisherman has unearthed a strange object in the Kennet and Avon Canal at Bathampton. Magnet fishers search outdoor waters for ferromagnetic objects, using a strong neodymium magnet, a hobby which has gained popularity in recent years as enthusiasts unearth grenades, bombs, safes, bicycles and old coins, bric a brac, scrapmetal, and so on. Ben Smith, who hails from Frome, in the South West district of the UK, first decided that he would get into this very unusual pastime three months ago after engaging with some magnet fishing content on YouTube. On Saturday (August 27) he travelled to the canal in Bath with his friends. The 39-year-old said: “We were near the toll bridge and I was pulling things out left, right and centre. The magnet I have is so powerful it has the facility to lift just about anything off the canal- or riverbed. I pulled out this very strange, triangular object and decided to take it home with me because I didn’t know what it was. So, I sent a few pictures of it to some people and a couple of them said it could be a bomb from the Second World War and that I should absolutely phone it in.”

The next day, the object was taken down to Ben’s usual fishing spot at Oldford in Frome. The police were called. When an officer arrived, it was explained where Ben had located the “device” and they contacted the bomb squad. Avon and Somerset Police have since confirmed that the object was not a bomb, but actually a piece of scrap metal. However, Ben believes he may have some more very specific information. The dad-of-two said: “One of my friends who lives very nearby, not far from here in fact, said she heard an explosion soon after they took it away so presumably that was them making it safe. Then I spoke to another very good friend who is ex-Navy, from the Portsmouth area, and he spoke to a guy, who is not local to the South West area, who is a bomb expert, and he said it looked like a projectile fuse from the top of a shell.”

Unfortunately, the police took the object quickly away so it was not possible to study this find any further. However, he has made several other discoveries while engaged in magnet fishing that he has been allowed to keep. The first was a Smith and Wesson .38/44 revolver that he pulled out of the river at Woolverton. “It was in such an altogether bad state that they said I could keep it,” Ben said. He has also found a very very small pistol at Oldford, which he believes would have been utilized by a lady in the late 1800s or early 1900s. “It was a pin fire pistol, so it would have been utilized by a woman as a sort of defensive weapon. “I had someone from the states look at it and they told me what it was. They were made by Webley in Birmingham from the late 19th century to early 20th century. “I’ve also found a lot of horseshoes and a safe, at Woolverton, that had some costume jewellery in it. We think it must have been stolen in a burglary or something and dumped in the river afterwards,” Ben said.

The Frome man has really caught the bug for magnet fishing since he engaged with it for the first time around three months ago. He eventually said: “I go out maybe two or three times a week. I’m just really interested in stuff and I bought magnets for my son, Liam, who’s 10 and my daughter Lily, who’s seven, so we can all go together.  However, my wife wants me to put a stop to it after this near-miss with the ‘bomb’. She was rather unhappy to hear I’d been driving around all over the place with it in the boot of my car.” With regards to the strange object Ben found in the canal, an Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said: “We were called to the river by Staplemead Creamery, in Oldford near Frome, on Sunday 28 August following reports of a suspected bomb being pulled from the river.

Source:

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/man-finds-ww2-bomb-magnet-7525784

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