Why can’t I ever find things like this! The sten pistol grips are a very interesting find
Fisherman pulls six Second World War machine guns from canal
Magnet fisherman pulls six WW2 MACHINE GUNS out of UK canal | SWNS - YouTube
Sten guns found by magnet fishing
Why can’t I ever find things like this! The sten pistol grips are a very interesting find
Fisherman pulls six Second World War machine guns from canal
Magnet fisherman pulls six WW2 MACHINE GUNS out of UK canal | SWNS - YouTube
Quite a find but not entirely surprising.
I believe this is the former ordnance depot Weedon Bec in the English Midlands.
It was established in the Napoleonic period it became redundant as late as the mid '60s and was sold off by the MOD in 1984.
Those Sten guns appear to have been the contents of a standard supply package with the outer crate rotted away and just the internal oilcloth type wrappings remaining to varying degree. This explains a matching number of items relative to each other ie 1 stock and pistol grip per gun with 5 mags per gun (typical ready ammo would be one mag on the gun three in the personal webbing and one in reserve) as per usual British SOP. This would mean of course that in such a package there would be no trace of any ammunition but I still felt sick when one of those intellectual giants actually pointed a Sten with a mag fitted directly at the head of one of the others!! Old habits I guess.
I would expect that the case ended up in the canal when the depot was finally emptied in the '60s either by accident or by way of lazy workers getting rid of a heavy box. In the first instance it would surely have been retrieved from the water immediately. In the second, being the result of idle malpractice the workers may well have managed to cover their tracks.
However, a more sinister and in my opinion likely scenario is that the box was deliberately dropped in the water with bad motive and every intention of retrieving it later for criminal purposes but which never happened for whatever reason.
Either way, a great find as they appear to be in reasonable condition and will surely end up in a museum. If the finder intended otherwise I doubt it would be all over the internet!
Thanks for showing.
Regards
Mark
Last edited by Watchdog; 02-10-2022 at 05:11 PM. Reason: typo
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
Very much agreed, I was cringing hard at them playing with the guns like children. These are no toys despite the condition. Excitement seems to often override common sense, unfortunately.by Watchdog
Surely an interesting find anyway!
Likewise..
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Very interesting discovery, as is the question of how they ended up in the canal. Perhaps as Mark suggests a stash the thieves couldn't relocate.
Were they crated up with magazines attached? By the looks of it they came out of the canal that way, which seems a little unusual.
No, they were packed in bundles of five. Individually wrapped in a Cosmolene soaked wrapper ( either paper or a kind of bandage-like crepe material depending on date of packaging and then as a bundle with similar) then loaded into the packing crate with the guns, stocks and pistol grips. At about 45 secs in the video you can see one weapon with mags stuck to the side of it and as the finder pulls one away it briefly appears to come from the magazine housing but not quite. Later on he is seen fitting mags to guns before laying them all out in a line for the "Family photo".
Regards
Mark
Last edited by Watchdog; 02-11-2022 at 01:56 PM. Reason: typo
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
Lamford has previously uncovered artillery shells, grenades, knives and flintlock muskets from the 18th century.
He accidentally closed down part of Reading after discovering an artillery shell in the Thames.
This mental pygmy has previous for this then and he stated, "the place we were dredging was the UK's biggest ordinance depot for 150 years"! As with metal detectorist's who go looking for treasure on old or current range areas WHAT DID YOU EXPECT TO FIND? One of my biggest regrets in life is that I am not permitted to introduce these people to Mr Shovel RE.
As for his treatment of them, what more do you expect? I'm afraid that as far as I'm concerned the sooner we ban this idiotic hobby the better.
R
Hear, hear!
Though I must point out that Mr. Shovel (RE) (and by the way Mrs Shovel, GS) are no longer considered qualified for the Job. Both have been relieved of duty and Master Shovel GD (Sexton) has been reinstated.
But, but, he is a celebrity is he not?
It was obvious from the video that he is totally without even basic ordnance awareness. I can imagine him trying to get the fuse out of a Herman with a hammer and cold chisel because he learned that from watching Lt Brian Ash in the TV show "Danger UXB" in the late '70s
Maybe there is a case for further EOD clearance to current standards at Weedon Bec?
In his case I would suggest the application of "Bats Baseball, Attitude Adjustment GS MkI"
It's going to be a long time before we are free of this I think.
Regards
Mark
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
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