In 1992 a bunch of rubber ducks jumped ship during a storm in the Pacific Ocean. They were part of a shipment from Hong Kong to Washington State for an order of 28,800 bath toys. Hundreds of the rubber ducks saw their chance at freedom and went overboard.
The rubber ducks have been swimming free on the sea for the last 15 years. Now hundreds are expected to land in Cornwall soon, 17,000 miles from where they fell off the ship all those years ago.
A Seattle oceanographer has been keeping his eye on the bath toys to help him in mapping ocean currents. He is waiting to see where they will end up ashore. Some of them have already arrived at the eastern coast of America.
The Daily Express quoted him as saying: "It's now inevitable that they will get caught up in the Atlantic currents and will turn up on English beaches. Cornwall and the South West will probably get the first batch of them."
The manufacturer of the bath toys have offered 50 pounds (about $100) as a reward for turning in a wayward sea-traveling toy if found.
So far some of these toys have already landed in Indonesia, Australia, South America and USA. In Alaska one resident and his son have grabbed 121 of the floating toys that came to land between 1993 and 2005.
These ducks have been selling privately for up to 1,000 pounds (about $2,000!) each. I wonder how the authenticity of the seafaring duck being bought can be distinguished from any other rubber duck anyone can purchase? I see a scam afoot!
