Some Saint John residents are expressing safety concerns after a hand grenade from the Second World War was discovered at a poplar beach.

Ron McLean’s grandson found the device at Mispec Beach Monday evening.

“I recognized it right off the bat,” says McLean, a former solider in the Canadian Armed Forces. “He said ‘look grampie.’ I said ‘where’d you get that?’ He said ‘out at Mispec, we were out to Mispec Beach,’ so I said ‘oh, give me that!’”

Concerned about his family’s safety, McLean phoned police right away.

“For precautionary measures, we evacuated the general vicinity where this hand grenade was located,” says Saint John Police Sgt. Jay Henderson. “We then notified CFB Gagetown and had their expertise come down, their explosive disposal technicians.”

“It was rusted pretty bad, but the older it gets, like I said, could be the war era,” says McLean. “That’s when they’re the most dangerous.”

Aside from a scare, no harm came from Monday’s discovery. But local historian Harold Wright fears that might not always be the case.

Wright has researched the history of the Saint John Harbour and believes the device could be part of ammunition on a ship that ran aground, causing the ammunition on board to be unusable due to water damage.

“In 1945 and 1946 there was a contract to take the ammunition out in the middle of the bay and dump it, which, ocean dumping was common,” explains Wright. “But ammunition was being illegally dumped inside and just outside the Saint John Harbour. Over 40,000 containers were eventually disposed of.”

The grenade isn’t the first potentially-explosive device to be found at Mispec Beach and many don’t believe it will be last.

In the fall of 2012, a couple out walking along the beach noticed a package that later had to be taken care of by members of CFB Gagetown.

“To me, the scary part isn’t finding it,” says McLean. “The scary part is not finding what’s still out there and knowing that someday somebody could get hurt.”

McLean is relieved his grandson wasn’t injured, but he hopes the incident serves as a warning to anyone who discovers a suspicious device at the beach.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Dunbar