hey_moe
June 9th, 2009, 02:50
MADEIRA BEACH - Long-line fishing boat captain Solomon Rondey docked near the Tom Stuart Causeway on Monday afternoon, bringing with him a souvenir he reeled in from 60 miles off the coast of Panama City.
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--><!-- GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT--><!-- /GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT-->It was an air-to-air guided missile.
And, yes, Rondey had caught a live one.
"I wasn't scared," said Rondey, a fisherman for 10 years and the captain of the Bold Venture. "Why should I be scared?"
Rondey said he snagged the missile on a fishing line more than a week ago in the Gulf of Mexico from a depth of about 700 feet. It looked old, Rondey said, and it had a hole in its side, so he figured it already had detonated.
"So I put it on the roof of my boat and I was fishing for another eight days," he said.
When Rondey docked at Madeira Beach on Monday, he called the local fire department because he said he wanted to keep the ordnance as a souvenir. Authorities instead converged on the area and cordoned off a vacant parking lot near the causeway.
A bomb squad from MacDill Air Force was called in to dismantle the missile on site. The squad released few details about the operation, but the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said the bomb squad confirmed the missile was American-made.
Rondey said the piece of artillery looked as if it had been in the bottom of the sea for a long time. He said he was not worried about the device exploding because a commercial fisherman's life already is fraught with risks.
"If the Good Lord wanted to take me out, he would've taken me out," Rondey said. "I'm an honest working guy. I risk my life out there every day."
Rondey said it was not the first time he has hooked military-issue ordnance while fishing for grouper. And a few days ago he fished out a second missile, but a gauge kept beeping and Rondey feared it was still live so he put it back in the water.
Authorities told the fishing boat captain that the next time he finds a missile, he should report it immediately to the U.S. Coast Guard. Rondey said that was just fine with him.
"I'll take pictures of it and let it go," he said.
source:Heraldtribune
<!--
AC =
--><!-- GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT--><!-- /GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT-->It was an air-to-air guided missile.
And, yes, Rondey had caught a live one.
"I wasn't scared," said Rondey, a fisherman for 10 years and the captain of the Bold Venture. "Why should I be scared?"
Rondey said he snagged the missile on a fishing line more than a week ago in the Gulf of Mexico from a depth of about 700 feet. It looked old, Rondey said, and it had a hole in its side, so he figured it already had detonated.
"So I put it on the roof of my boat and I was fishing for another eight days," he said.
When Rondey docked at Madeira Beach on Monday, he called the local fire department because he said he wanted to keep the ordnance as a souvenir. Authorities instead converged on the area and cordoned off a vacant parking lot near the causeway.
A bomb squad from MacDill Air Force was called in to dismantle the missile on site. The squad released few details about the operation, but the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said the bomb squad confirmed the missile was American-made.
Rondey said the piece of artillery looked as if it had been in the bottom of the sea for a long time. He said he was not worried about the device exploding because a commercial fisherman's life already is fraught with risks.
"If the Good Lord wanted to take me out, he would've taken me out," Rondey said. "I'm an honest working guy. I risk my life out there every day."
Rondey said it was not the first time he has hooked military-issue ordnance while fishing for grouper. And a few days ago he fished out a second missile, but a gauge kept beeping and Rondey feared it was still live so he put it back in the water.
Authorities told the fishing boat captain that the next time he finds a missile, he should report it immediately to the U.S. Coast Guard. Rondey said that was just fine with him.
"I'll take pictures of it and let it go," he said.
source:Heraldtribune