Don Trinci and longtime scuba diving buddy Jarrad Winne weren’t sure what they had come upon last Friday during a dive in Lake George.

They spotted what appeared to be cannon shells down in 70 feet of water, and a large, sealed crate nearby.

The discovery, north of Mother Bunch Islands, came at the end of a dive Friday afternoon. They returned to the area Saturday, determined to find out what was in the crates.

They pulled one out of the water and got it on a boat. When they opened it and saw dozens of cannon shells, they weren’t sure what to do.

They dropped the crate back in the lake, and after researching what they had found, called the Warren County Sheriff’s Office.

“Because of the danger of it, we weren’t sure what to do,” he said.

Sheriff’s divers found several more crates of military shells this week when they checked the area, and U.S. Navy ordnance disposal experts came to the lake Thursday to remove them.

Police do not know who put them in the lake, or when. The ordnance dated back to the 1879s, but included some World War II-era German 37mm antiaircraft rounds.