Be aware of wartime munitions on beaches

Be aware of wartime munitions on beaches

20 July 2016

THE sunshine over the past few days has brought hundreds of people onto Down’s many beaches but a warning has been issued for beach-goers to be aware of the possible presence of wartime munitions.

Badly eroded munitions, mostly mortar bombs, have been found in increasing numbers on several local beaches in recent years including Murlough, Tyrella, Minerstown and Ballyhornan and while they pose little danger to the public, the Coastguard is urging people to keep a look out for anything suspicious over the summer. 

Most of the munitions are believed to have come from a huge undersea arms dump in a deep trench in the middle of the Irish Sea called the Beaufort Dyke. At the end of WW2 hundreds of thousands of tonnes of munitions were dumped in the trench in a bid to dispose of enormous quantities of unused munitions.

Disposal of munitions in Beaufort Dyke began in June 1945 with the dumping of 242 tons of four inch mortar bombs — it is these bombs which have been most frequently found along the Lecale coastline in recent years.

However, the dumping quickly escalated and by December that year as much as 500 tonnes of munitions was being disposed off each day.

Records show that in 1949 the RAF alone dumped 137,767 tonnes of weapons in the Irish Sea, while the amount of army dumping was believed be considerably greater.

Dumping gradually decreased during the 1950s but in 1960 the army still sought permission to dump up to 3,000 tonnes per year.

Sea disposal continued until 1972 when agreements were reached in two international conventions to control the dumping of materials at sea.

However, in recent years increasing amounts of munitions have been washing up on Northern Ireland’s eastern coastlines, which is believed to have come from the Irish Sea dumping sites.

It is believed that some of the munitions fell outside the deep Beaufort Dyke and were disturbed by cable laying between Northern Ireland and Scotland and by increasingly severe storms.

However, recent finds in the Murlough area have lent weight to the theory that some of the discoveries were from other sources.

Before D-Day the area that is now Murlough Nature Reserve was home to a large number of American soldiers who had several firing ranges among the dunes, including, it is believed a mortar range.

There has been severe erosion of the Murlough sand dunes in recent years which has exposed several WW2-vintage mortars which did not show evidence of having been immersed in water. One bomb found by a local walker last year was remarkably well preserved.

It is believed Murlough beach could be home to munitions washed ashore from Beaufort Dyke, from American army training exercises and possibly from the nearby Ballykinlar Army Camp, which has been a major training centre for decades.

The Coastguard is urging walkers, bathers and people who use the beaches to enjoy themselves but be aware of what to do if they find anything untoward.

“The most important thing to emphasise is there is minimal danger from these munitions, most of which have been immersed in water for many decades,” said a Coastguard spokesman. “However, it is important nonetheless that such items, when they are found, are correctly dealt with by the appropriate experts.

“The accompanying photographs show a selection of devices which have been found around Lecale’s beaches in recent years. Some are very obviously bombs but others look like rusty lumps of metal, devoid of the typical fins associated with bombs or mortars.

“If anyone finds something resembling one of these, or anything they are suspicious about our advice is don’t touch it, mark the site with a stick or a small pile of stones and then dial 999 and ask for the Coastguard.

“We will send out a team who will assess the item and, if necessary, we will then ask for an army bomb disposal unit to come along and dispose of the item. Generally this involves a controlled explosion on the beach,” added the spokesman.