Tourists snorkelling off Coral Beach yesterday found a 95-year-old ship's chest containing old artillery shells.

The find was made by New Yorker Walker Brock and his friends who were on Island for a wedding.

According to Custodian of Wrecks Philippe Rouja, the intact chest was "quite rare because they usually get broken up".

"In essence what you are looking at is a strong box which is actually really rare to see whole these days. And with almost 100 percent certainty we can say it came from the wreck of the Pollockshields which was a shipwreck further east than this section of Coral Beach."

The Pollockshields was originally a German freight vessel, but was siezed by the British and turned into an ammunition ship.

It had a crew of 37 — and 350 tons of ammunition and other provisions for the First World War on board — when it encountered an intense hurricane. The vessel struck a large coral reef near Elbow Beach and sank on September 7, 1915.

Inspector Steve Cosham and Sergeant Larry Dean of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team of the Bermuda Police Service said the ammunition was safe and took it to Maritime Museum to be preserved as a historical artefact.

According to the Inspector, the artillery shells in the chest were likely disturbed during Hurricane Igor.

Mr. Brock said after one wedding guest stumbled upon the box, a group of men decided to bring it out of the water yesterday afternoon.

"We got our supplies from the beach like a volleyball net, a bogey board and mask and fins and it took about an hour and a half to strategise and dive and tie the thing up in the volleyball net and bring it up.

"Four of us had it floating on a bogey board about a foot under the water and then we got it up to the beach and everyone tried to figure out what to do.

"We popped off the back because that looked like the easiest and safest way to open the box and once we saw what was inside called the club manager."

Mr. Brock said the group treated the find like treasure but added: "we thought it was just a box."

If it was worth lots of money "that would be great, but it is more exciting that it has value to Bermuda and we did something that is sort of fun".

He plans to return to Island and see the chest once it's preserved and restored at the museum.

Assistant Manager of Coral Beach, Chris Wardman, said: "It's very exciting because you don't find that kind of stuff off of here, ever.

"The hotel feels great about it because its an historical artefact. It goes back to the fantasy which is the Bermuda experience, it's a perfect example of that."