Impression sketch
of Explosive Warning - by
Jamie.
Warnings follow
on heels of warnings,
Which only the
wise would take notice -
By Chief
Inspector words on explosives.
A Home office
issue 2 February 1916,
Gave notification
to risks of dangers
Of relics,
transported from the frontline.
Most dangerous of
all were any fuse
Or shells that
having once been fired,
Became sensitive
in failing to explode.
Such intact
armaments might be kept
In a way, that
the firing mechanism
Could be subjected
or moved, to blow.
An explosive
catastrophe a likely result -
Home Office
advice was many numbers
Of accidental
fatalities already occurred.
Much less risky were
those cartridges
Or shells that had
never been fired
Although any
possession was illegal.
To quote Explosives
Act 1875 stating
Any dismantling
or using explosives,
Was illegal,
subject to heavy penalties.
The enforced
warning was tremendous
Risks in the
tampering of such shells,
Made by any
unqualified acts of persons.
The Home Office
warning extended,
To give legality in
keeping fragments
Of shells, that
once held explosives.
Such examples of
what might be kept
Were rifle
cartridges, being half inch
Diameter and measuring
three inches.
Advice concluded
that for illegal types
Being likely to
blow, was for keepers
To drop them into
nearest deep waters.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Dangerous
War Relics - A Warning. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 3 February 1916. P.7. Col.6. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12134516/Daily-Telegraph-February-3-1916.html
[Accessed: 3 February 2016].
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