Some sizeable bits of lumber floating in the waters around Bermuda are causing concern that there might be more unseen hazards bobbing around in the ocean around the Island.

Where the big pieces of wood - some as long as 75 feet - have come from is not known, although the rough seas created by Tropical Storm Philippe at the weekend may have carried the flotsam some distance.

The lumps of wood so far pulled from the sea around the Island do not have any distinguishable markings, so cannot be positively identified as coming from any particular source although it is thought they may have rolled off a passing container ship. A 75 foot log that was 18 inches in diameter was towed from the water near Fort St. Catherine in St. George's on Monday and tied up at the shore overnight until it could be safely dragged clear of the water up a slipway yesterday.

“It looks like it might have been a telephone pole. Our first objective was to get it out of the water,” said a duty officer at Harbour Radio. The pole was thought to have been in the water for a week or two judging by the marine growth attached to it.

A similar object was washed up at Clearwater Beach on St. David's during the weekend and Marine Police raised the alarm when they spotted a 75-foot piece of floating limber off North Shore on Monday near the Clayhouse Inn in Devonshire.

That piece was described as being “fairly new looking” and was suspected as being a telephone pole that had rolled off a container ship. The Police notified Marine and Ports who took charge of the debris and towed it to the facility at Dockyard.

The pole at North Shore is the only one that has been officially reported to Marine and Ports according to spokesman Jacal Washington, so no warning has been issued to water craft operators around the Island, although they should keep an eye out in case more of the poles are drifting in the water.