The Floatee has landed?

Last month I posted on the possible arrival of Friendly Floatees on British shores. 15 years ago nearly 30,000 plastic bath toys were released into the Pacific Ocean when a container was washed off a cargo ship. Some of these ducks (and other animals) were expected to reach Britain after a 17,000 mile journey that has taken them through the Pacific, into the Arctic Ocean, then past Greenland and the eastern seaboard of the United States.

A week ago the Mail reported that a retired teacher, Penny Harris, may have been the first person to have found one of the ducks on the British coast. She found the plastic yellow toy as she walked her dog on a Devon beach.

All of the ducks which fell overboard were inscribed with the words "The First Years" by American manufacturers First Years Inc. But the marking is not visible on the duck found by Ms Harris – it was covered in barnacles which could obscure the mark and there were large chunks of plastic missing. "It's covered in brown algae and it's got barnacles on it. Its bleached white at the bottom and the top of the head is cracked and has burst open. Said Mrs Harris "I've looked for writing or a serial number but there is a hole in the duck so it could have been on the bit that's missing."

The duck has been sent to the manufacturer First Years Inc in to claim a $100 (£50) finder's fee. The company offers a $100 reward for an original duck returned to them from the USA, Canada or Iceland.

Was this one of the Floatees washed overboard in the Pacific? I have no idea but it is more interesting that the Beckhams...

Attack of the friendly floatees

According to today’s Times, british beaches could face a new invader in the form of a flotilla of plastic ducks.

For 15 years oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer has been tracking nearly 30,000 plastic bath toys that were released into the Pacific Ocean when a container was washed off a cargo ship. Some of the ducks ( known as Friendly Floatees) are expected to reach Britain after a journey of nearly 17,000 miles, having crossed the Arctic Ocean frozen into pack ice, bobbed the length of Greenland and been carried down the eastern seaboard of the United States.

The odyssey began on January 29, 1992. Two thirds of them floated south through the tropics, landing months later on the shores of Indonesia, Australia and South America. But 10,000 headed north and by the end of the year were off Alaska and heading back westwards. It took three years for the ducks to circle east to Japan, past the original drop site and then back to Alaska on a current known as the North Pacific Gyre before continuing north towards the Arctic.

Many were stranded as the currents took them through the Bering Strait, but eight years after their journey began, the ducks had made it through the Arctic and into the North Atlantic. Simon Boxall, of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, said that the ducks offered a great opportunity for climate change research. “They are a nice tracer for what the currents are doing as they travel around the world”