Featured Image Credit: YouTube/@DustySands
Topics: News, World News
Kit Roberts
A man made a disturbing discovery after dropping his GoPro camera into the ocean which people said he should report to authorities immediately.
It's no secret that the ocean is filled with fascinating and terrifying mysteries which might make the prospect of dipping a toe in more than a little disturbing.
Low visibility in particular lends the ocean a spooky and claustrophobic quality which many people find very disturbing.
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But it wasn't the existential dread of the ocean which got people urging a YouTuber to call emergency services after dropping his GoPro into the water.
Instead it was something which could have been a rather more immediate threat to safety.
That is, if it was what it looked like.
YouTuber Dusty Sands stood on a jetty at Port Noarlunga in Australia and lowered his GoPro into the water on a line.
Visibility was very poor, with some fish swimming in and out of the gloom.
But as the camera descended it caught a glimpse of something which had a distinctive look.
The YouTuber wrote: “Dropping my GoPro off the side of a jetty in Port Noarlunga.
“We looked back at the footage and kinda got freaked out when we saw it. We tried dropping the GoPro in at the same spot a few more times but never showed up again.”
The object was a sphere with stud jutting out of it, and a chain from the bottom, and looked disturbingly like a naval mine.
One person wrote in the comments: "Strongly suggest reporting it to the coast guard btw, that Is a live naval mine that could take out that entire dock if triggered from a hit."
Another was more sceptical, writing: “We haven't seen much in the way of naval warfare in South Australia. I don't know if sea mines were ever used here. My guess is it may be a joke or hoax.
“If it is real, it definitely hasn't been there, unnoticed, bumping against a jetty pile for decades.”
A third said: “Bro out here making the sea seem 3x scarier than it already is. I sure hope that isn't an actual live mine, or if it is, that coast guards take care of it.”
While it's unclear if this is a live mine, there are several caches of explosives underwater, with one particularly disturbing example being the SS Richard Montgomery.
This was a World War Two vessel which ran aground while carrying a cargo of explosives.
Most of the cargo was salvaged, but there are still some 1,400 tons of explosives in the wreck, located in the Thames Estuary.
The risk of a 'major' explosion is 'believed to be remote' according to the UK government, but the site is still continually monitored and an exclusion zone is in place around the wreck.