The search for the 'thing’ at the bottom of Chatham Maritime Marina came to an end, with a disappointing find.

Three teams of two divers from 36 Engineer Regiment took to the waters on Friday to search the old submarine basin in zero visibility waters in an attempt to find the object which showed up on a sonar survey measuring 15 feet tall and 18 feet across.

After two hours the divers finally found the mystery object but it wasn’t a plane or an historic ship as first thought.

Instead it turned out to be a solar/radar reflector no bigger than a bucket, which probably fell off the back of a warship.

John Grimes, estate manager for the trust, said: “Although there were smiles and excitement over the find, initially there were questions over what it could be and what do we do with it because the image showed the object being the size of a 20ft container.

“So when it was pulled from the water and we saw it was no bigger than a domestic bucket it really was a bit of a disappointment - a real anti-climax.”

The sonar survey, which revealed the object, was carried out by the Port of London Authority for Medway Maritime Trust so the trust could check sections of the 160 year-old base wall in case repairs were needed.