A lobsterman says he pulled in a surprising catch Monday while fishing 20 miles off the coast of Maine.
Captain Cameron Pease of Cushing, Maine, discovered a five-foot military rocket tangled in his trawler’s rope Monday afternoon, WABI reported. Pease notified a local warden Tuesday, who contacted the Maine State Police Bomb Squad to detonate the 150-pound weapon.
Members of the bomb squad dispatched to analyze the rocket identified it as a MK29 Mod-0, according to a press release from Maine State Police. Bomb squad technicians used x-ray imaging to examine the rocket but were not able to determine if it held any explosive material, authorities said.
Technicians received guidance from a mobile Navy bomb disposal unit to safely disarm and dispose of the rocket, the press release continued. (RELATED: Fisherman Makes A 1-In-100 Million Catch By Reeling In ‘Cotton Candy’ Lobster Off Coast Of Maine)
The fisherman was fortunate the rocket didn’t explode as it moved around in his boat and again in his truck bed on its way to Pease’s home Monday night, authorities told WABI.
“They ended up doing an X-ray on it and found that everything in the tip was all there and attached,” Pease told the outlet.
“It still should have been able to go off, so they used another small dynamite piece and triggered off another one,” he added. “They said there was 3 to 5lbs. of explosives in the top of it, so I’m not sure how much did not go off being under water for a good 20 years. On the top of the missile, it said it had expired in 2003 so, who knows how long it had been down since before then.”
It remains unclear where exactly the rocket originated, WBAI reported.