PADRE ISLAND, Texas — World War II history has made its way to Texas' shores.
From a TikTok posted Tuesday, a bale from World War II was found near the Gulf of Mexico by a few individuals. A video was captured by a user named "Patty" showing her and others trying to rip the bale open to determine its contents.
These rubble bales first began to pop up on Texas' and Florida's shores in 2020, according to the Padre Island National Seashore.
@maddmaxican Mystery box covered in clams with a horrible stench. #gulfofmexico #texascoast #Port #clams #rubber #mysterybox ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
The park service says that in January 1944, a German blockade runner called the SS Rio Grande was carrying bales composed of multiple materials like tin, copper, cobalt, and crude rubber. They also state the ship was discovered by the USS Omaha and USS Jouett, a cruiser and destroyer, respectively. When they realized they were discovered, the SS Rio Grande crew abandoned the ship and its cargo after making attempts to sink it first.
Padre Island National Seashore states the two opposing ships continued to fire at the Rio Grande until it was no more, sinking everything with it, including these bales. These bales were considered to be lost until now.
The bales are reported by the park service to weigh around 200 pounds, but the water-damaged cargo floated to the surface and was caught in the North Brazil Current. Since then, these bales have been making their way across various coasts of the Americas- reaching the Gulf of Mexico and our beaches.
