WHAT A FIND: Dog discovers research tool from the 1960s

SCIENTISTS mapping the currents of the Irish Sea in the 1960s have had an unexpected addition to their research - after a dog discovered one of their research ‘drifters’ on a Cumbrian beach.
Barney the dog with owner David RussellBarney the dog with owner David Russell
Barney the dog with owner David Russell

The red plastic disks were used by oceanographers from Bangor University to learn about the movements of the Irish Sea.

A third were returned in time for them to publish their research in 1968 - but this particular ‘drifter’ had remained lost at sea until it was discovered by Barney the dog on Silecroft beach.

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But Barney’s owner David Russell, a retired salesman from Batley, was not surprised by the find - it’s the third they have discovered, following earlier finds of another device and a meteorological balloon.

He said: “There must be something about the currents that bring things to this beach. When I found this drifter it had just come in on the tide.”

A plastic tag attached to the disk asks the finder it before December 1968 to receive a reward of 5/- - the equivalent of 25p in today’s metric system.

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