Thirty years and six days have passed since a container was lost at sea with almost 29,000 rubber toys. It changed oceanography for good. Here's how and why
On January 10, 1992, a storm at sea in the Pacific set in motion one of the largest and most unusual studies into global ocean currents. A freighter traveling from China to America was caught up in the storm, which tipped the vessel into what I like to call the Uh-Oh Zone. The less than favorable maneuver saw several shipping containers unceremoniously dumped into the waters, one of which contained a consignment of 28,800 bath toys.
The toys were plastic-wrapped on mounted cardboard and each contained a yellow duck, a red beaver, a green frog, and a blue turtle made by The First Years company. The jolly characters burst forth from their shipping container, possibly due to its doors being opened by a collision with one of the other lost containers. It’s suspected a combination of soaking in salty water and being jostled about by currents and waves set the quartets free from their packaging. The toys were designed without any holes so successfully bobbed to the surface.