I wonder if it ended its days like this one at Seaburn on the North East Coast,they appear to make very popular charity collection bins Kyle British WW2 Sea Mines
They used to be quite common at the seaside. Wonder if there is a complete list. And which charities have use of them?
They used to serve as charity boxes for RN Charities as I remember. While on holiday on the Gironde,just south of Blaye is German mine mounted on a plinth.This was one recovered from the Gironde when it was swept on liberation.I was talking to a French chap when stopped in the layby where the mine is displayed and he mentioned that the river was heavily mined....he knew his local history. Doing a little research on the subject,indeed it was. I took a photograph and I think on the display plaque,it indicated the number of mines laid in the river from Royan down to Bordeaux. Whether the river was so mined when the Bordeaux shipping was attacked by the SBS,i do not know.
“Around 200 mines were originally donated to us by the Admiralty for use as collection boxes in recognition of the Society’s significant help to thousands of shipwrecked survivors during WW2. Not just sailors but soldiers, airmen, nurses and civilians who were landed at British ports after being rescued – particularly during the Battle of the Atlantic – Britain’s worst maritime conflict. The Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society provided immediate financial assistance to survivors arriving back in Britain for clothing, food, accommodation and rail passes to get them home to their loved ones.” “These days the Society has around 60 mines remaining and they’re spread around the coastline of the UK – including the occasional one on outer islands. We’ve estimated that it could take someone in the region of three months to visit them all if travel is by bicycle but the challenge could also be undertaken by a keen leisure sailor by sea. In fact we’re open to volunteers’ own ideas about how they might like to undertake the challenge and the means of transport they use.” Mine to Mine Challenge - Shipwrecked Mariners' Society