Most bath toys lost at sea

On a rough night at sea in January 1992, a total of 28,800 plastic yellow ducks, blue turtles and green frogs fell from a cargo ship and were lost at sea. Ever since this fateful night, the floating toys have been washing up ashore in places as far away as Scotland and Hawaii. Departing from Hong Kong, China – and lost in the North Pacific Ocean – the toys have travelled tens of thousands of miles since escaping from their container. Journalists and scientists alike have watched their progress with intense interest; there has even been a book written about them entitled Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn. Far from being merely yet another form of pollution, these floating toys are actively helping oceanographers to map ocean currents and have even proven the length of time it takes for currents to circulate in various parts of the Pacific. Even now, some 25 years after they were lost at sea, a small number of small, yellow rubber ducks are still believed to be plying their way around the world.

Oceanographer and self-confessed beachcomber Curt Ebbesmeyer (USA) has been tracking these toys ever since they were dumped overboard. It is estimated that around 350 ship containers are washed over board each year – there are 34,000 hockey gloves and 5,000,000 LEGO® pieces that were dropped in the ocean 16 years ago that Ebbesmeyer is also currently tracking to establish ocean current cycles.