Logistically, financially, and physically – spilled cargo is a mess. Some sources estimate that nearly 10,000 containers fall into the ocean every year. According to CNN.com, The World Shipping Council says that figure is grossly exaggerated. The Council, whose members represent 90% of the world’s container ship capacity, reports that on average no more than 350 containers are lost annually. Spilled cargo is never a desired outcome, yet as with many unfortunate accidents, there can be a silver lining:
In January of 1992, the container ship Ever Laurel was en route to Tacoma, Washington, having departed from port in Hong Kong. As the ship approached the International Date Line in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a storm hit, causing the ship to lose twelve 40-foot shipping containers.
As the containers went overboard, one, holding 29,000 childrens’ bath toys marked as “Friendly Floatees”, broke open spilling red floatee beavers, blue floatee turtles, little green floatee frogs, and – of course – the classic bright yellow rubber duckies into the sea.
Unlike many bath toys, Friendly Floatees had no holes in them so they did not take on water. Those 29,000 toys just kept floating on the surface of the ocean – for the next twenty-plus years!
While this could be seen as a disaster, the ship’s unique cargo gave birth to one of the most interesting oceanography studies of all time. The toys bright colors and unique floaty construction made them perfect for oceanographers studying ocean surface currents.
In fact, the floating toys were even better than the 500-1000 “drift bottles” scientists would usually release into the ocean to conduct their studies. The Floatees were durable, easily identifiable and drifting in large enough numbers to provide a lot of data. Seattle oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and James Ingraham tracked Friendly Floatees for the next two decades as they were spotted all the way from Alaska to South America to New England and to Iceland.
Ebbesmeyer and Ingraham have also tracked other lost cargo floating in the ocean – 61,000 Nike running shoes, 34,000 hockey gloves and 5 million Lego pieces, for example.
Yet, it’s the story of the Friendly Floatees that captured the imagination of the public at large. Children’s books, folk songs, animated movies and more have all told the story of the cute little tub toys that helped scientists understand ocean currents.
Bleached by the sun, the ducks and the beavers eventually lost their color as they traveled the high seas, yet their value has skyrocketed. That batch of Friendly Floatees probably would have retailed for a dollar each; now, they fetch up to $1000.00. If you ever discover what looks like an old bath toy on the beach, don’t forget this story. You’ll want to contact the oceanographers and cash in!
Hope your weekend is just ducky…
~Bob
