‘Torpedo’ causes stir in Port Richmond

The discovery of what appeared to be a torpedo under I-95 in Port Richmond caused some alarm this morning, but the object turned out to be a welded replica, police said.

During a news conference at the Police Academy, Chief Inspector Joseph Sullivan said the object was not actual military ordnance and more likely was a novelty item.

An X-ray showed it was hollow and it had no screws, as a torpedo would, he said.

Although a replica, its discovery this morning caused a stir, with the police Bomb Squad responding and PennDot preparing to close I-95 if it turned out to be a live device.

Police soon determined it was inert but it was not until early afternoon that they determined it was a fake.

Members of a PennDot archaeological team arriving at dig at Richmond and Cumberland Streets about 7 a.m. found two men drinking beer and sitting on the 20-foot-long replica, which had the number 56 painted on its side, PennDot spokesman Charles Metzger said.

The two told the PennDot crew they were waiting for a third companion, who had gone off to get a vehicle to take the item away.

They told the archaeological team they had found the fake torpedo in the river and spent something like six hours dragging it about 1,000 feet to the work site, Metzger said.

Police said the object weighed 800 to 1,000 pounds and had a hole in its tip.

Sullivan said whoever found the replica - and that's still a mystery - apparently meant to sell it for scrap.

The origin of the fake s not yet known but perhaps it had something to do with the Cramp's Ship Yard, which once spread along the waterfront there on what is now a acres of vegetation.

During World War II, some 10,000 people worked at Cramp's building submarines and other warships.

The archaeological dig, by the way, is part of the construction of a new Girard Avenue interchange on I-95.

Metzger said that if the torpedo had been live, officials would have had to close I-95 150 feet away.