A magnet fisher was shocked to discover an object he had been 'whacking with a hammer' was actually a - WW1 artillery shell.
Raymond Berry, 53, was fishing in the river Medway in Maidstone, Kent, with a friend when he pulled up a peculiar, 10-inch-long shape from the water.
The 53-year-old, who lives in Bexhill near Hastings, explained that as it was so muddy, he began hitting the shell with a hammer - completely unaware that it could explode.
After asking friends on social media who told him it was likely to be a WWI bomb, he and his friend had to wait two hours for police to arrive.
The shell was later removed by a bomb disposal unit.
Mr Berry, who runs the YouTube channel Adventures In Finding Stuff, had travelled to Maidstone last Sunday (13/04).
On his channel, social housing worker Mr Berry also mudlarks - which he learned to do on the River Thames whilst growing up in London.
The pair took up position underneath the A229 bridge near the Travelodge hotel in the Maidstone and dropped their magnets into the water, oblivious as to what they would pull up.
While he had previously found guns, knives, and plenty of coins, the WW1 shell was the first explosive Mr Berry had ever uncovered.
Raymond Berry, 53, was fishing in the river Medway in Maidstone, Kent, with a friend when he pulled up a peculiar, 10-inch-long shape from the water.
The 53-year-old, who lives in Bexhill near Hastings, explained that as it was so muddy, he began hitting the shell with a hammer - completely unaware that it could explode.
After asking friends on social media who told him it was likely to be a WWI bomb, he and his friend had to wait two hours for police to arrive.
The shell was later removed by a bomb disposal unit.
Mr Berry, who runs the YouTube channel Adventures In Finding Stuff, had travelled to Maidstone last Sunday (13/04).
On his channel, social housing worker Mr Berry also mudlarks - which he learned to do on the River Thames whilst growing up in London.
The pair took up position underneath the A229 bridge near the Travelodge hotel in the Maidstone and dropped their magnets into the water, oblivious as to what they would pull up.
While he had previously found guns, knives, and plenty of coins, the WW1 shell was the first explosive Mr Berry had ever uncovered.
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FunTranscript
00:00So a little while ago I pulled something out of the river and it was all covered in crud and muck
00:07and horrible so I started tapping it off with my hammer like you do and all of the crud fell off
00:14in one go and what we're left with is this um it looks to me like some sort of artillery shell
00:31um I've put it I put pictures up on my group and lots and lots of people came back and said
00:38yep that's definitely uh anti-aircraft oh god don't roll about anti-aircraft apparently
00:44artillery shell so unfortunately that is the end of the uh little birthday because I don't know if I
00:53mentioned earlier but today's my birthday um but that's going to be the end of the little birthday
00:59mudlark not mudlarking what we're doing magnet fishing uh because I'm gonna have to call the
01:04place you have to call this kind of thing in so um yeah wish me luck with that I'll let you know how
01:11it all pans out
01:30hello
01:34i pulled it up and it was all encrusted so like you do you tap it off with a hammer stupidest thing to do
02:02just in there
02:09i'm gonna stand well back
02:32the one at the one at the top is the other one he's just kind of latched on to us
02:49so
02:55so
02:59so