An Ideal Getaway
Many parents vary in opinion when it comes to spending time together with their respective families. Others like the idea of being one with nature and therefore much prefer the hike to the woods or going out on a road trip with no particular destination in mind or even camping somewhere peaceful.
Callie Maddalena-Maloney/Pixabay
But to most families, it’s beach days that provide a sense of fulfillment when they’re spending it together. Parents take a lot of photos of their kids running around, building sandcastles, swimming or even playing treasure hunt. One family in particular spent a day at the beach and discover something mysterious, only to find out it was deadly.
Beach Lovers
Gareth and Kelly Gravell are your typical parents who love spending time with their kids. And as kids, the beach is always something that will surely equal fun. So the couple would always take their two kids, Erin and Ellis, to the beach as often as they could.
Gareth Gravell/Facebook
Erin and Ellis aged six and four always love to play in the sand and enjoy the waves as most kids do. Visiting the beach is always something that was easy to do since it was very accessible to them. The Gravell family is from Burry Port, Wales.
Then And Now
The beach is always a good option for families to spend time together. And the Gravell family is lucky to be so close to this area. However, as locals would recall, Burry Port was previously an industrial port area and was a hub for every type of vessel that was coming in and out of Wales delivering coal to neighboring areas.
Ernest Bush/Royal Photographic Co.
Over the years, the beach has been transformed into a family-friendly destination. So it is now the most ideal place to enjoy a great day together with the family. It’s a laid back and relaxing environment for everyone to take advantage of. And the kids love it, that’s what’s most important.
A Good Day Out
One bright sunny day, the whole family decided that it was a great time to spend it at the beach. So they prepared their things, brought some food and proceeded to head out. They found a shaded area near to the lighthouse. It was really such a beautiful day.
Gareth and the kids had already made plans to go boogie boarding, so when they got to the shaded area, they immediately went in the water. However, they would not expect that a little while later, they would find something that they would never forget.
Photos For Memories
On that day, the sky was a perfect shade of blue and the water was the perfect kind of warm. The kids were so excited to be in the water again and that made Gareth and Kelly so happy to see them on cloud nine being at the beach. They were in their element.
Gareth Gravell/Facebook
Gareth is the type of father that does not want to miss out on moments like these when the kids are obviously so happy to be where they are. So he takes photos all the time. And in this particular photo he posted, he captioned it with, “No place like home! Kids love Burry Port on a nice day!”
Treasure Hunt
The kids had already planned out what they wanted to do at the beach. After they went boogie boarding with Gareth, they now wanted to go treasure hunting in hopes to find something cool that they could bring home and show their friends. So off they went.
Gareth Gravell/Facebook
The kids immediately ran off to start the treasure hunt all while squealing and giggling in delight and the parents could only look on endearingly. The beach treasure hunt was something they always did and the kids would look in the sand for neat finds like seashells, sand dollars or any items they would find washed up.
Mysterious Object
Gareth and his family proceeded to walk along the shoreline because the kids just were just so happy to be there. They spotted something protruding from the sand farther away, but because of the distance, they just weren’t so sure what it was. All they knew was that it was large for it to be so prominent from afar.
Pembrey Country Park/Facebook
They got closer and closer to the strange object and they realized that it was even bigger than they initially thought. But because things get washed up all the time at the beach, they didn’t think much of it. Although, this was the largest thing they had ever come across.
Washed Up To Shore
They walked up to the mysterious object and examined it. It was roughly the height of a small child, about Ellis’ length but much wider, like the shape of the dome but only they weren’t so sure because it was deeply covered in sand and barnacles.
Robert Masterman/Youtube
The object they discovered was undeniably something that looked so out of place at Burry Port. Upon further examination of the object, they had found a chain that was linked to it. Kelly even joked that it may have been a bomb that was washed up from the sea. She had no idea.
Maybe A Buoy?
The huge object looked somewhat circular in shape but it may also be like a half circle or a dome. Gareth reckoned that it looked like a buoy because what else could it be? Little did they know, Kelly’s joke at the time could not be any truer than the other assumptions they had.
Gareth Gravell/Twitter
It was very difficult to tell what the object was exactly as they could only see the top part of it. The barnacles had stuck to the object and created a mini colony so it was really hard to determine what it was apart from the number print they could see: “637.”
Lesson On Barnacles
Erin and Ellis were so amazed at the large object. One thing in particular that caught their eye was the colony of gooseneck barnacles. Gareth and Kelly took this time to teach the kids about them and the importance of every living thing in the underwater ecosystem.
Gareth Gravell/Facebook
While the kids were busy looking into the barnacles, Gareth and Kelly leaned in for a closer inspection of the object. They found it odd that the object was so full of barnacles, so it may have been underwater for so long and for some reason just got washed up earlier that day.
Harmless Enough
Gareth and Kelly did not think much of the object as they didn’t see at the time that it was of any danger to them or the kids. So they allowed the kids to poke around with the barnacles. He took photos of the kids and Kelly admiring the mysterious object.
Gareth Gravell/Facebook
He even caught the very moment that Ellis reached out and touched the object. Because he was so curious about the barnacles, he wanted to see what the object felt like. He even knocked on the piece of metal a couple of times out of curiosity and Gareth and Kelly didn’t reprimand him because they thought nothing of it.
Social Media Post
Gareth just knew he had to post this kind of rare find at the beach. So when he uploaded pictures of the family’s beach day to Facebook, it got a lot of attention. One photo of Ellis touching the object was captioned, “Ellis was fascinated with the ‘sea monster’ wasted up in Burry Port beach!”
Gareth Gravell/Facebook
As soon as that was posted, a lot of his friends and followers were just as intrigued by the object. So they took to the comments section to further discuss what it could have been. Gareth’s friends guessed so many different things and even discussed how it could have gotten washed up.
Five Days Later
It was a normal weekday for the family and they went about their day as normal. However, it was hearing one news in particular that just stopped them on their tracks. In the news, authorities warned the public about a very dangerous spot on the beach, the same spot that they had found the mysterious object on.
Pembrey Country Park/Facebook
It turns out, that the object they discovered, was not a buoy at all. It was something much worse and to hear that from the news that day, was like feeling your blood drain from your body. They had not known it at the time and to think that they let kids play with it was unnerving, to say the least.
Recognition
Because Gareth had posted the photos on his Facebook publicly, a lot of people had also seen them. In the five days following the Gravells visit to the beach, other people had also had the chance to encounter to the object. A woman in particular saw the object in person as well, and at the time, the barnacles had slowly fallen off the object and therefore provided further insight as to what it was.
Robert Masterman/Youtube
Realizing that this may be a hazard to the general public and the beachgoers, she immediately called the relevant authorities and within a few minutes, police had arrived at the scene to inspect the object and this was where they were able to determine what the terrifying object was.
A Hazard To Everyone
The Gravells had believed that it was a buoy but all along it was a military explosive from way back World War II. More specifically, it was a mine bomb that was used by the United States military and it was around seventy years old give or take.
Robert Masterman/Youtube
And although it was hard to determine the model of the mine bomb, it was obvious to the authorities that this was a hazard to everyone. Because even if another century passes, it’s always going to be a bomb. Its nature is to explode, one way or another.
Assessing The Situation
Calling it into the coastguard was definitely the right thing to do. Without involving authorities, it may pose as a risk to anyone who might try to move the thing or even that it may explode on its own because of other external factors that may trigger it.
Robert Masterman/Youtube
As soon as the coastguard and the police arrive, they cordoned the whole of Burry Port beach to make sure that no one else would come into contact with the bomb again. Now it was up to the coast guard to investigate and verify its origin and get rid of it safely.
Detonation
The coast guard quickly got to work and assessed the whole situation. The situation needed and immediate solution. It had already been days since this bomb had been exposed to the public and to various weather conditions, so they were not about to let it go on any further.
Pembrey Country Park/Facebook
Transporting the bomb was not an option as this could only lead to it exploding either during the move or in transit. So they finally decide to detonate the bomb right there on the beach. It was the safest and best way to dispose of it and the process would be controlled.
Curious Crowd
When word broke out of the bomb, people were so quick to gather at the beach and witness it for themselves. Because the whole beach was cordoned off to the public, they could only gather at a safe distance and there were police guarding the area as well to make sure that no one tries to go beyond the limit.
Robert Masterman/Youtube
Families and other individuals that had encountered the bomb in person, rushed to the scene to watch it all go down – the Gravells included. They could not believe their eyes at the scene unfolding before them. Other people were also shocked that the harmless “buoy” they thought was actually a very deadly bomb.
Instant Relief
Many people watched as the coast guard did the final assessments and review of the execution of their plan. It was all eyes on them and despite the pressure of getting rid of the bomb safely, they knew what they were doing and also knew for a fact that this was going to bring instant relief to everybody.
Adam Why/Youtube
So when it was time to detonate the bomb, everybody was on their toes and was anxious. A big explosion happened and everybody felt a huge wave of relief wash over them. The crowd cheered on the officials and everybody involved in making sure that the hazard was eliminated.
Open Again
After the bomb was properly and completely disposed of by the Coast Guard’s bomb squad, the beach at Burry port was opened again to the public. And it wasn’t long until families gathered along the beach to enjoy the scenery and the waves and just relax.
Wales Tourists Online
And just like all the other beachgoers, the Gravells were back to their usual routine on weekends. The discovery of the bomb did not stop them from enjoying quality time with the family at the beach. It was going to take a lot more than a bomb to stop them.
Back To The Beach
While Gareth, Kelly and their two kids still frequent the Burry Port beach to enjoy their weekends together swimming and boogie boarding, their outlook towards their walks along the shoreline have definitely changed, especially with what happened a few weeks prior.
Gareth Gravell/Facebook
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Kelly told them, “I’ve heard of things being washed up on the beach before – but nothing like this,” she explained. “We’ll definitely think twice before messing with something like that in future.” And it was a lesson learned indeed.