A boy sitting on a sea mine, Kent, England, 1945.

26 comments
  1. It’s a common fallacy that only foodstuffs, fuel and building materials were rationed in WW2 Britain. People often forget that chairs were too. Back in those days you had to sit on whatever you could find. Historians believe this led to the infamous haemorrhoid outbreak of 1945.

  2. Mines are rigged to explode when something big hits them. The weight of a person or even a row boat is unlikely to set them off, as that would be a waste of a mine and would also reveal to the enemy that there are mines there.

  3. That looks like Deal. Down the beach in Walmer is where Julius Cesar is meant to have landed.

    Interesting place, it was until about the 1850s a genuine pirate village in the UK.

  4. I remember when I was a kid (70’s) these things were everywhere. Every beach had a least one sea mine on display and there were always old fortifications to play in. I don’t remember seeing any recently though. I suppose they’ve slowly but surely been taken away and or demolished. Shame, it was a good reminder not to fight each other.

  5. My dad always talks about how him (born 1946) and his mates would always play on these mines as a kid. Guessing it looked something like this.

  6. These days we worry about the dangers of kids using phones too much.

    Back in the 40s, sit on bombs, well, that’s alright. No issue.

  7. I always thought that those silent films were never real and just little goofs.

    But no. People were risking their lives every day. Rules and safety? What are those!

  8. Reminds me of a great little tv show (based on a book) set in the Outer Hebrides called “Crowdie and Cream” about a boy growing up there during the war. A sea mine washes up and they have to get a retired sniper (the boys dad) to take it out as the local home guard can’t shoot well enough.

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