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| The live bomb was discovered off the coast of Largs by fisherman Glenn Gallagher |
A fisherman says he netted a Nazi bomb which nearly capsized his boat - and was still packed with live explosives.
Glenn Gallagher, 44, was fishing off the coast of Largs, North Ayrshire, days before Christmas when he felt an unusually heavy object tugging at the nets.
The dad-of-four lugged it onboard his boat, The Two Boys, initially mistaking it for a boiler.
But Glenn soon noticed a "horrific" smell of explosives, as the Mark 7 World War Two depth charge landed on the deck of his boat.
And he recalled how the weight of the bomb, which had languished on the seabed for around 75 years, nearly tipped the fishing boat over.
Glenn said: "When we pulled it out the weight nearly tipped us over.
"The bottom of the boat went right over, we nearly capsized.
"I thought it was some sort of boiler at first, and we got a big large boulder which hit deck along with depth charge.
"I am just glad it never went off on us to be honest."
The WW2 explosive was accidentally picked up on December 20, sparking a huge emergency response from the MOD explosives unit.
A 700m exclusion zone was placed around Glenn's vessel, and the depth charge was taken out to sea one mile from the coast and placed it in 27 metres of deep water.
Experts had to wait until morning the next day before they could safely detonate it.
Glenn, from Largs, said: "It's a weird smell, but when you smell it you know it's explosives.
"It's like a mixture of paint and bleach - it's ghastly, it makes you feel sick and your eyes water."
Glenn, who was onboard the boat with crewman Ross Dunn, said: "I heard it made a bit of a bang on Friday morning when they blew it up, so it was clearly still live.
"The smell of explosives was horrific when we brought it on board.
"We have had a few like this during my 29 years at sea.
"Most places we get stuff like that is in the Clyde as there was an ammunition dump south of wee Cumbrae, but that was just out Greenock Road in Largs.
A spokesman for the Royal Navy said: "We can confirm that Royal Navy clearance divers from Northern Diving Group (NDG), based at HM Naval Base Clyde, were called to assist.
"The team examined the item and it was found to be a Mark 7 World War Two depth charge.
"The team took the item back to sea, around one mile from the coast, and placed it in 27 metres of deep water.
"They then dived down to the ordnance, placed explosive charges and carried out a controlled explosion.
"The disposal was completed around 10am on Friday."
A Belfast Coastguard spokesman said: "We informed the MOD after being alerted to the matter and then it was arranged for somewhere to meet just north of Great Cumbrae and the Navy took it from the fishing boat.
"An exclusion zone was put around it of around 700m and we put broadcasts out reminding all vessels to keep clear of it."
