The Great Rubber Ducky Journey

In 1992, over 28,000 plastic bath toys took a journey of epic proportions after they were washed off a container ship and into the Pacific Ocean. While the release of plastic objects into the ocean can be detrimental to the ecosystem, this particular incident proved to aid in the study of ocean currents, how they change over time, and where all that plastic goes when it is in the ocean.

How Those Ducks Got Off the Boat

The bath toys started their journey in Hong Kong on a container ship called the Ever Laurel in January 1992. The toys had been made for The First Years Inc. and were destined for Tacoma, Washington. When the ship was about halfway through its journey, a storm hit the vessel in the North Pacific Ocean which washed twelve 40-foot containers overboard. In one of the containers were the bath toys for The First Years.

The container opened somehow and released 28,800 yellow ducks, red beavers, blue turtles, and green turtles. The toys had been attached to a cardboard backing, but it soon degraded in the ocean which allowed the objects to float freely. In addition, the toys had no holes in them like other bath toys, so no water got inside them.

The Journey

The yellow ducks, along with the other toys, began a journey around the world’s oceans, aided only…