Explosives Found in San Clemente and at Sea

Orange County residents have discovered military explosives in two places they were not supposed to be, authorities said Tuesday.

In the first instance, a backpack containing five quarter-pound sticks of dynamite, a timer and a complete detonating mechanism was found about 11 a.m. Sunday by a man walking in San Clemente.

Police said that the explosives were found under a bush behind The Yogurt Fair, 1502 N. El Camino Real.

Investigator Charles Stumpf of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad said the wrapping on the dynamite showed that it was the kind used in military demolition.

Sheriff’s Department demolition experts transported the dynamite in a special truck to a canyon behind the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and detonated it.

On Monday, two live anti-aircraft shells between 20 and 40 years old were pulled from the ocean by the crew of the fishing trawler Dardon about five miles northwest of Santa Catalina Island.

Crew members discovered the 40-mm shells in their nets about 1 p.m., according to John Frye, public information officer for the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. The crew called the U.S. Coast Guard, which sent a Navy demolitions team to pick up the explosives and detonate them.

Frye said the 15-by-1 1/2-inch shells were rusted, and might have been dumped in the ocean from a World War II warship. “When the war ended, ships would dispose of their ammunition and cartridges when they had very few left,” he said.