River Yare Closed At Haven Bridge

[pastboating]

Hope this link works.

The article also mentions the bomb at Great Yarmouth

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1732287/bomb-derbyshire-evacuation-bolsover-marlpit-lane-explosive-mine

[FlyingFortress]

2 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

One has to wonder how many more unexploded bombs may lie in and around the area.  I watched a programme a little while ago where it showed that farmers in Normandy regularly unearth unexploded bombs and shells whilst ploughing their fields.  Their approach to dealing with them is a little more simplistic, though.  Apparently, they move them to collection points, where the French military deal with them!  💣💥

When we did a Capital dredge on the Thames to deepen The Sea Reach Channel off Southend from around 11m to 14m to allow deeper ships access to The new London Gateway Container Port around 2013 they kept a running total of ordinance that was picked up by the dredgers. The final tally was around the 130 mark. Now considering The Sea Reach is about 10 miles long and 400m wide that is a lot of bombs. 😥

[floydraser]

1 minute ago, Vaughan said:

Maybe someone knows where the gas tap is?   

Yep, he'll be round on Monday morning....

[Vaughan]

9 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

One has to wonder how many more unexploded bombs may lie in and around the area.  I watched a programme a little while ago where it showed that farmers in Normandy regularly unearth unexploded bombs and shells whilst ploughing their fields.  Their approach to dealing with them is a little more simplistic, though.  Apparently, they move them to collection points, where the French military deal with them!  💣💥

You are absolutely right!

When I was working in Chateau - Thierry, on the Marne, in the 1990s, there were still 10 disposal experts at Soissons, employed full time on handling ordnance from WW1, discovered during building works or when constructing new motorways. They are probably still "in a job" today!

 

 

 

 

 

[Smoggy]

3 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

Maybe someone knows where the gas tap is?   

It's taken a few day to realise there's a gas main never mind a gas tap, that will be another week to find.

[Bikertov]

We had a UXB very close to our old office in Wembley a few years back, unearthed when they were digging foundations for the (then) new developments around the stadium.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32841971

As the day went on, the cordon widened, until late into the evening it approached our building and we had consider evacuating - we are a 24/7 business.

Cue a mad rush to remove computers and data to allow us to continue working remotely somehow. The front of the building was cordoned off by then, but we managed to get in by the back entrance, just before the police closed that approach road off too.

Luckily, the cordon stopped there and bomb disposal successfully removed the device and carried out a controlled explosion.

But certainly concerning times for local businesses and residents, so my sympathy to those in Great Yarmouth right now.

 

[FlyingFortress]

2 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

You are absolutely right!

When I was working in Chateau - Thierry, on the Marne, in the 1990s, there were still 10 disposal experts at Soissons, employed full time on handling ordnance from WW1, discovered during building works or when constructing new motorways. They are probably still "in a job" today!

 

 

 

 

 

I will hazard a guess that they still are. 😳 There is still an awful lot of unexploded ordnance around. Just imagine what it must be like for German Cities such as Hamburg 😥

[ranworthbreeze]

Dear all,

The incident involving the unexploded bomb in Great Yarmouth is still ongoing and the planned defusal has been put on hold.

A cordon remains in place and the River Yare is still closed to river traffic downstream of Haven Bridge.

Please continue to avoid the area for your own safety.

Best

Tom

From: Tom Waterfall
Sent: 07 February 2023 14:40
To: Tom Waterfall <Tom.Waterfall@broads-authority.gov.uk>
Subject: Urgent Boating News - Navigation restriction on the River Yare, Great Yarmouth

 

Dear all,

Due to an ongoing incident involving a suspected unexploded bomb near Bollard Quay in Great Yarmouth, the River Yare is currently closed to river traffic between Haven Bridge and the North Sea.

A cordon is currently in place restricting access to the nearby area. Police have urged members of the public to avoid the location.

An Explosive Ordinance Device team is currently on-site investigating. We will issue any further updates in due course.

Best

 

Tom

 

Tom Waterfall

Senior Communications Officer

Direct dial 01603 756034

 

Broads Authority 

Yare House, 62-64 Thorpe Road, Norwich NR1 1RY

 

Please note that my normal working hours are 8.00am – 4.45pm Monday to Friday, with alternate Mondays as non-working days.

 

If I am out of the office I will deal with your email on my return, alternatively please contact another member of the Communications team.

[grendel]

`I can remember an incident just a few years back where a site we were working on was closed due to a bomb being discovered on the next door site, this was right in the middle of London, so you can imagine the disruption, I believe it was subject to a controlled explosion then removed for disposal to sheerness or somewhere similar.

 

[Vaughan]

1 minute ago, grendel said:

I believe it was subject to a controlled explosion then removed for disposal to sheerness or somewhere similar.

During the war, most UXBs in London were taken out to the Hackney Marshes to be blown up.

Reminds me of the old music hall song, which I believe was Flanagan and Allen :

Wiv a ladder an' some glasses, you could see the 'ackney marshes :

If it wasn't for the 'ouses in between!

[Smoggy]

A few years back possibly 2019 we were coming up the coast and had heard an all stations securite message on the radio about unexploded ordnance near bawdsey being dealt with but didn't get the position, sure enough as we neared bawdsey bank we spotted a larger vessel with a black rib on guard making hand gestures that were very clearly meaning "go that way" followed by "kaboom", didn't see the actual explosion happening but the hand signals were quite comical for "kaboom".

Needless to say we went "that way" fairly keenly, the spot it had been found was in the middle of our planned track.

[FlyingFortress]

7 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

A few years back possibly 2019 we were coming up the coast and had heard an all stations securite message on the radio about unexploded ordnance near bawdsey being dealt with but didn't get the position, sure enough as we neared bawdsey bank we spotted a larger vessel with a black rib on guard making hand gestures that were very clearly meaning "go that way" followed by "kaboom", didn't see the actual explosion happening but the hand signals were quite comical for "kaboom".

Needless to say we went "that way" fairly keenly, the spot it had been found was in the middle of our planned track.

During the dredging of The Sunk Deep Water Route prior to the opening of London Gateway a massive brand new dredger turned up on its maiden voyage. Due to its size and deep draft when loaded 12.3m 😳 It had to have a pilot on board 24/7 so we were doing 24 he stints on board. Now all the dredgers had to have an ordinance expert on board usually ex Royal Engineers, and always known as Dangerous Dave. They had a bit of a cavalier attitude to ordinance and would tend to juggle things like hand grenades saying it's nothing 😥

I had only finished my stint around 48 hours previously when they pulled in one of the drag heads ( dredging pipes) with something large attached to the end of it . 

So the call goes out to call Dangerous Dave. DD sauntered up the deck whistling to himself until he sees what it is, goes pale and mutter's all sorts of expletives.

They had picked up  1000kg parachute mine 😳😥

Related to me by DD on a later trip he told me he had realised this was pretty serious and phoned his boss who told him  to cut off the drag head and dump it. This did not go down too well with the ships crew as this thing would cost many millions of Euros to replace so eventually the RN was called and the ship stripped of all but essential crew and anchored in The Sunk inner anchorage with a 3 mile exclusion zone later reduced to one mile when I pointed this out to our Harbour Master team that this would shut the Port as the Sunk Deep Water Route ran closer than 3 miles to the offending dredger.

On the second day of the incident I was tasked to bring in one of our regular Hamburg Sud large container ships for Tilbury. German Flag , German Officers.

Whilst transiting The SDW route Sunk VTS made its regular broadcast about the exclusion zone.

The very young and bright Second Mate asked me what this was all about. Now trying to be diplomatic l explained that a few years ago our Grandfather's had a bit of a disagreement and this was something left over.

Now The Captain had been listening in on all this while sitting at the rear of the Bridge now piped up. " It's OK Pilot, you can keep it, we don't want it back".

Who says The Germans have no sense of humour 🤣

After some difficulty The Navy removed the offending object and carried out a controlled explosion 💥

We were living about 5 miles inland from Brightlinsea at the time and it shook our windows 🫣

[stumpy]

2 hours ago, Mouldy said:

One has to wonder how many more unexploded bombs may lie in and around the area.  I watched a programme a little while ago where it showed that farmers in Normandy regularly unearth unexploded bombs and shells whilst ploughing their fields.  Their approach to dealing with them is a little more simplistic, though.  Apparently, they move them to collection points, where the French military deal with them!  💣💥

Some years ago when I stood behind a bench in the Customs Hall at Felixstowe we had regular school battlefield trips coming back from Zeebrugge. A bearded buffoon of a history teacher toddled up and after a bit of a struggle presented me with a rusty Mills bomb he'd confiscated from a spotty faced Herbert! Apparently he'd had it in his pocket for a couple of days and an 8 hour ferry crossing. EOD from Colchester didn't take long to get from Colchester!

[addicted]

In the 70s I  helped run a  small building/development company  and we used to buy old houses at auction and refurbish them, mostly in the North London area. They were  usually completely original having been built in the late nineteenth century and always tenanted. Often the previous occupants had been elderly and there would be a plethora of artefacts of their era to be found especially in the garden shed.  We were due to start work on one such property in Edmonton and sent in a couple of labourers and a skip  ahead of the main work force to get it  cleared out ready for refurbishment  work to begin.  I received a call from them after they had been working there for most of the morning to say they had found what appeared to be a bomb in the garden shed. I phoned  the police who advised that they would be sending in the bomb squad. While they  were waiting for them to arrive they sent a  constable to stand guard. Our labourers carried on working in the house demolishing what was not going to be salvaged. By this time the bomb had been placed in the middle of the lawn.  The bobby instructed them  to  stop work until  the bomb had been disposed of. When they refused, saying their boss couldn't  afford to have them standing around idle the bobby went into the garden and placed his helmet over the bomb then went back into the street to resume his vigil.

 

 

Carole

[Hylander]

21 minutes ago, addicted said:

In the 70s I  helped run a  small building/development company  and we used to buy old houses at auction and refurbish them, mostly in the North London area. They were  usually completely original having been built in the late nineteenth century and always tenanted. Often the previous occupants had been elderly and there would be a plethora of artefacts of their era to be found especially in the garden shed.  We were due to start work on one such property in Edmonton and sent in a couple of labourers and a skip  ahead of the main work force to get it  cleared out ready for refurbishment  work to begin.  I received a call from them after they had been working there for most of the morning to say they had found what appeared to be a bomb in the garden shed. I phoned  the police who advised that they would be sending in the bomb squad. While they  were waiting for them to arrive they sent a  constable to stand guard. Our labourers carried on working in the house demolishing what was not going to be salvaged. By this time the bomb had been placed in the middle of the lawn.  The bobby instructed them  to  stop work until  the bomb had been disposed of. When they refused, saying their boss couldn't  afford to have them standing around idle the bobby went into the garden and placed his helmet over the bomb then went back into the street to resume his vigil.

 

 

Carole

Oh the good old days.    Love it.

[HEM]

4 hours ago, FlyingFortress said:

Just imagine what it must be like for German Cities such as Hamburg 😥

I guess about once per week there is a report in the local paper about a bomb being found & defused.
Usually this is whilst clearing land for some new building.

(I live on the outskirts of a town just outside Hamburg - to the North-West).

[Bikertov]

59 minutes ago, addicted said:

In the 70s I  helped run a  small building/development company  and we used to buy old houses at auction and refurbish them, mostly in the North London area. They were  usually completely original having been built in the late nineteenth century and always tenanted. Often the previous occupants had been elderly and there would be a plethora of artefacts of their era to be found especially in the garden shed.  We were due to start work on one such property in Edmonton and sent in a couple of labourers and a skip  ahead of the main work force to get it  cleared out ready for refurbishment  work to begin.  I received a call from them after they had been working there for most of the morning to say they had found what appeared to be a bomb in the garden shed. I phoned  the police who advised that they would be sending in the bomb squad. While they  were waiting for them to arrive they sent a  constable to stand guard. Our labourers carried on working in the house demolishing what was not going to be salvaged. By this time the bomb had been placed in the middle of the lawn.  The bobby instructed them  to  stop work until  the bomb had been disposed of. When they refused, saying their boss couldn't  afford to have them standing around idle the bobby went into the garden and placed his helmet over the bomb then went back into the street to resume his vigil.

 

 

Carole

When I was in the Cadet force at school, on camps we were often given a demonstration of a Thunderflash, placed under a helmet and detonated.

Not just a loud bang, but the helmet would end up quite a few feet in the air, and not much left of it after.

A sobering thought as a 14 year old kid, and of course that was not even a proper grenade with fragmentation

[Vaughan]

4 hours ago, FlyingFortress said:

During the dredging of The Sunk Deep Water Route

 

 

Scans from "Make a signal!" by Capt Jack Broome RN.

My uncle, Vernon Jeffrey, was a captain of minesweepers, and won the DSC on the morning of the Normandy landings.

[FlyingFortress]

I have mentioned on another thread that at the moment I am laid up with my back out. Nothing to do but grin and bear it until the inflammation goes down.😫 Old seagoing injury that flares up now and again.

Now as many of you know I do have issues with the way we are not allowed to voice some views on here as they are deemed too much for a public discussion forum. I have always disagreed with this and the early controversy on this thread highlights that fact . I did not make my feelings known.

As I have had nothing to do for the last couple of days I have been looking at a Seagoing Forum and have been reading some threads related to a  former company I worked for. The forum is populated by current and former seagoing staff and obviously that particular one by current and former company employees.

One thread was about a fatal accident that had only just happened ( there are many about ones that happened in the past). Obviously members discussed possible causes of the accident where a Young Man died in the pump room of a tanker. There was much speculation about what he was doing in there alone and at the time it was not clear if death had been due to being overcome by gas or it had been a fall . There was much discussion about Pump Room safety and could there be measures put in place to prevent this accident in future. Unfortunately this young man is not the first or probably the last person to die in a Pump Room of a Tanker. 

Around 20 posts into the discussion there appeared one from The Mother of the unfortunate young man IIRC 20 years old. She was disgusted that people could be so callous in discussing his death and even inferring that he may have been partly to blame. 

That was not IMHO the drift of the thread but of course it was a possibility that he had made an unauthorized entry into a hazardous space.

What I am getting at is that bereaved families will scour the internet looking for information and will jump on every little piece of information available. This grieving Mother had stumbled on a Professional Mariners forum and found a lot of speculation based on very little facts but the incident was being discussed with a view to improving safety.

It makes me reconsider my postings on The Fatal Accident at GTY . Although my feelings about a systematic cavalier attitude to safety have not changed I will be more guarded in my postings in future.

 

[Hylander]

Has anyone heard anything more regarding the disposal of the bomb at Great Yarmouth.    It all seems to have gone quiet.  I saw on the Anglian News this morning that the Army has started to dismantle the bomb but nothing more.   The remainder that is not part of a controlled explosion may be taken to somewhere inland for the Army to dispose of or taken out to sea.  

[Meantime]

5 minutes ago, Hylander said:

Has anyone heard anything more regarding the disposal of the bomb at Great Yarmouth.    It all seems to have gone quiet.  I saw on the Anglian News this morning that the Army has started to dismantle the bomb but nothing more.   The remainder that is not part of a controlled explosion may be taken to somewhere inland for the Army to dispose of or taken out to sea.  

The latest appears to be that the cordon remains in place and the army are using a robot to cut into the bomb to defuse it. The Police had said that could take up to 10am, which since we are now past that time you can only assume they are still working on it.

[Vaughan]

24 minutes ago, Meantime said:

and the army are using a robot to cut into the bomb to defuse it.

Which in my days in Belfast in the 70s was called "wheelbarrow".   I am sure they have modified it somewhat, since then!

26 minutes ago, Meantime said:

since we are now past that time you can only assume they are still working on it.

To the exclusive benefit of those who have property or businesses in this area. 

Could I perhaps remind us that our emergency services - whether Fire, Police, Ambulance or Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal - are there to protect LIFE : not property.

[Meantime]

For crying out loud Vaughan, are you going to quote, dissect and try and correct every post I make?

Hylander, asked if any one had an update, I provided the latest update I knew about. End of.

[Smoggy]

44 minutes ago, Hylander said:

It all seems to have gone quiet.

Quiet is generally a good thing in bomb disposal, loud is usually a sign of possible failure.

7 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

Which in my days in Belfast in the 70s was called "wheelbarrow".   I am sure they have modified it somewhat, since then!

Was that the thing that basically fired a stick at the suspect device?

[Vaughan]

2 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Was that the thing that basically fired a stick at the suspect device?

Basically, yes!

As in all things scientific; keep it simple!