Can anyone solve rubber bale mystery?

London – Readers of PRW have once again been asked to help solve the mystery of objects being washed up on UK beaches.

Having helped identify thousands of small blue bungs which were pitching up on the Cornish coast two years ago, readers have been invited to turn their detecting skills to what appear to be large bales of rubber, about a metre square in size, that have been appearing on the county’s southern beaches.

Williams said she had found a number of the 'bales' on her local beach over a period of years, some stamped with the word 'Tjipetir'

Local beachcomber Tracey Williams, who had appealed to PRW readers over the ‘Mystery of the Blue Bungs’ in September 2014, said: “We’re trying to find out how old these bales of rubber are, and where they’re coming from.

“At least, we’re assuming they’re rubber. There has been much speculation in local press as to the contents – drugs, toxic waste or fuel – but as far as we are aware, they are bales of rubber.”

It was unclear if they had come from an old ship wreck, or a more recent one, Williams said.

She said she had found a number of the ‘bales’ on her local beach over a period of years, some stamped with the word ‘Tjipetir’, but it appeared that a new lot is now being washed up.

Meanwhile similar objects have appeared on beaches at Carteret on the west coast of the Cherbourg peninsula, in northern France, the latest this week.

One which washed up in France bore what locals believed to be a series of letters and numbers: TVT660.

As well as the ‘bales’, sheets of rubber bearing the name ‘Strathmore’, which Williams believed to be the name of a rubber plantation operating in the early 20th century, were appearing on her local beaches, she said.

“We would like to find out if these bales are ancient or modern. Any help PRW readers could give would be hugely appreciated,” she added.