‘We thought it was a bomb’

HANNAH Seaman and her son Kai were on a hunt for seashells when they spotted this historic artefact at Lee Point Beach

Kai Humbles (4) found an oxygen tank from a B17 Bomber on Lee Point Beach. PICTURE: Helen Orr

HANNAH Seaman and her son Kai were on a hunt for seashells when they spotted this historic artefact at Lee Point Beach.

Shaped similarly to a bomb to untrained eye, it’s believed the pair found an oxygen cylinder from a Netherlands East Indies Air Force B25 bomber which crashed off Nightcliff in April 1943 during WWII.

“I was like, I think I found a bomb,” Ms Seaman said of last week’s find. “But I saw it had a hole in it so I thought, oh well it’s not like it can explode.”

The Nightcliff local struggled to pull the barnacle covered tank from a rock pool, and cut her hand during the extraction. “But it was covered in so many different little shells that I knew I wanted to keep it,” she said. Ms Seaman has always enjoyed hunting for shells. After moving to Darwin from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, she said the beaches were still full of shells.

“It’s also a great way for the kids to burn off energy in a big space,” she said.

Four-year-old Kai was excited to find the tank. “I was looking for shells with mum and we found it,” he said. “The favourite shell I’ve ever found was the bomb (oxygen tank).”

The find comes just days before the Top End commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin.

Originally published as ‘We thought it was a bomb’