The Story of Lego Shipwreck with 5 Million Pieces of Lego Lost at Sea

For a few years, locals and vacationers have been discovering way more than simply seashells on the seashores of Cornwall, England’s southwestern peninsula.

Ocean-themed Lego items, together with octopuses with tentacles, scuba gear, whales, divers’ flippers, sea grass, life rafts, life jackets, dolphins, and dragons, are among the many 5 million Lego items misplaced at sea when the container ship Tokio Express hit a rogue wave.

The accident spilt 5 million Lego items into the water, most of that are nonetheless being discovered in the present day. Collecting these plastic Lego items captured the hearts and minds of locals shortly after the accident, particularly kids who competed to search out essentially the most items.

Before we delve deeper into the main points, tell us extra in regards to the ship Tokio Express.

The Container Ship- Tokio Express

Tokio Express was a container ship registered in Hamburg. She was accomplished in 1973 and operated by Hapag-Lloyd. She exchanged fingers, acquired by Westwind International in 1997 and Falani in 1999 earlier than it was damaged into items for scrap in 2000.

It was one of many 4 trio-class container vessels constructed within the Seventies. These 3000 TEU vessels included the Hamburg Express, the Bremen Express, the Tokio Express and the Hongkong Express.

These vessels had a twin screw, however within the Nineteen Eighties, they underwent refitting and have been transformed to single screw propulsion, although one among their generators was retained.

Tokio Express Accident, which spilled 5 million Lego items

On February 13, 1997, the Lego ship Tokio Express was on its solution to New York City from Rotterdam when she was struck by a rogue wave 32 km off Land’s End, a headland in western Cornwall, England, U.Ok. To its east lies the English Channel, and its west, the Celtic Sea.

Tokio Express tilted dangerously to at least one facet by 60 levels after which 40 levels again, resulting in the lack of 62 containers. Among them was a container with round 5 million Lego items, most made for toy kits themed round sea adventures, in keeping with the Lego Aquazone and Lego Pirates.

The plastic legos have been on their solution to be made into units in North America. Nobody is aware of how the container opened, but it surely launched a path of vibrant Lego items discovered alongside Cornish seashores.

The Lego items contained 418,000 plastic swimming flippers, 13,000 spear weapons, 4,200 octopuses, sea grass, dragons, cutlasses, 97,500 scuba tanks, 26,600 life preservers, 88,316 bunches of plastic flowers, over 18,000 items for reefs and chateau partitions.

These items of plastic have survived so lengthy within the waters that even in 2023, 26 years after the accident, also referred to as the Great Lego Spill, individuals discover them on seashores or shores in England and so far as Ireland and Belgium.

They have retained their form and color and are sometimes washed ashore or caught in fishing trawlers’ nets. In truth, the items are mentioned to have travelled a lot bigger distances.

Some items, such because the octopuses and inexperienced dragons, are mentioned to be uncommon and far wanted by beachcombers and collectors, whereas different items, like flowers or grass, are normally despatched for recycling.

Aftermath of the ‘Great Lego Spill’

When the accident occurred, the Lego items didn’t make headlines as a lot bigger fears have been the preliminary reason for concern.

The subsequent morning, the Western Morning News reported that 17 metallic circumstances from Tokio Express, every the dimensions of a double-decker bus, have been being pushed alongside the seas in the direction of The Lizard. Many of them have been loaded with harmful chemical substances and irritant superglue.

There have been fears that the containers would explode if the chemical substances got here into contact with the air. Hence, a Tug of the Falmouth Coastguard travelled alongside the large flotsam to warn ships and small fishing craft. Locals and beachcombers have been warned to not open the 40-foot containers even when they have been washed on seashores.

As days handed by, individuals discovered tiny capsules of resin methyl methacrylate on Cornish seashores, together with Loe Bar and the Lizard. Coastguards and others started a clean-up effort.

Fishermen in South Cornwall nervous that the chemical substances would harm their boats and trawlers; nevertheless, the federal government assured them they weren’t harmful.

On the South Devon shores, the ten,000 disposable lighters washed ashore from one of many ship’s containers alarmed the South Hams District Council. The accident was taken care of, and the zeal died ultimately, till 6 years later, when the Lego container was washed ahore at Devon’s Bantham Beach in Jan 2003.

Lego Company Issued Finders Keepers Statement

Officials of the Lego Company introduced a finders keepers assertion and instructed individuals they may maintain the items they discovered, however they need to wash them totally first. The firm additionally began a hotline so individuals may inform the place they discovered the items, they usually may present assist with clean-up operations.

The Lego Fever Among Locals & Beachcombers

Tracey Williams a neighborhood of Cornwall, a beachcomber and environmental campaigner was intrigued by the Lego Spill and the mountains of different plastic flotsam she noticed. She described her findings and work in her ebook, Adrift: The Curious Tale of the Lego Lost at Sea.

She liked to scrub seashores and analysis the influence of plastics at sea. Tracey has discovered tons of of Tokio Express Lego items through the years, and she or he has additionally tracked a few of their journeys, which she shared with different collectors and oceanographers by way of her Facebook neighborhood web page, Lego Lost At Sea, which now has hundreds of subscribers.

Tracey Williams was one of many many who discovered hundreds of Lego items washed on England’s seashores in 1997. This discovery fascinated her, and she or he noticed how beachcombing modified after the Lego spill. She photographed her Lego finds, which she calls, ‘ a catalogue of our time.’

She additionally talked about her first discover, a plastic Lego seagrass. She recounted how bizarre it felt to see plastic seaweed and took it house to point out her household.

She underlined that the dragons and octopuses have been thought of uncommon finds. There have been 4,200 octopuses and 33,427 black dragons. However, the inexperienced dragons have been essentially the most uncommon since they numbered simply 514.

She additionally mentioned that it’s unlawful to promote the Lego items and that one should report them to the federal government Receiver of Wreck.

The greatest time to search for Lego items was after excessive spring tides and robust winds. She mentioned a lot of the Lego is caught between rocks and sand dunes, whereas different items are floating within the water. Some lie on the seabed, sometimes discovered by fishing trawlers.

The Lego Lost at Sea: An Award-Winning Project

When she began holding a report of the Lego items, Tracey had no concept that her work could be globally recognised and would change into an award-winning undertaking involving oceanographers, a ebook, an exhibition and even a film!

Tracey’s Lego Lost at Sea project received the Rescue Project of the Year within the Archaeology Awards and was additionally the topic of an exhibition on the Royal Cornwall Museum.

She is named the Lego Lady. She frequents the fishing villages in Cornwall, the place she waits for trawlers so fishermen can report back to her in regards to the Lego items. She talked about that one among her favorite finds is a tiny software wheel since solely a single one has been discovered but. The Lego firm additionally despatched the researchers a listing of the container contents.

The Dark Side of the Lego Spill: Plastic Pollution

A researcher concerned on this undertaking, Dr Curtis Ebbesmeyer, mentioned that ocean currents may carry Lego previous Norway into the Arctic Ocean and Alaska. Some items may even attain Japan, western Canada, and California.

In 2017, a Cornwall resident, Rob Arnold, and 12 others collected round 6 million items of microplastics from a close-by seaside. Twenty years after the incident, they discovered a number of Lego bits and items among the many plastic, resembling 240 Lego flippers.

Plastic takes centuries to degrade, and because it does, it releases chemical substances that disrupt the reproductive system of animals, per Live Science. The coming generations would expertise the aftermath of the accident.

Also, a research printed in Environmental Pollution in 2020 discovered that after Lego items have been analysed with X-ray fluorescence, it might take 1300 years for the 1997 Lego items to degrade utterly.

According to the IUCN, round 14 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans every year, making as much as 80% of all marine particles present in sea sediments and floating on the floor.

After the accident, the Tokio Express went to Southampton for repairs. However, the destiny of the Lego container, whether or not it broke up or lies on the seabed, stays unknown.

Tracey Williams is working with a movie crew. She mentioned that she is fascinated about discovering out if the container exists, and if that’s the case, it should be discovered with all the opposite lacking Lego items, such because the 50,000 sharks.

About Author

Zahra is an alumna of Miranda House, University of Delhi. She is an avid author, possessing immaculate analysis and modifying abilities. Author of a number of educational papers, she has additionally labored as a contract author, producing many technical, artistic and advertising items. A real aesthete at coronary heart, she loves books a bit of greater than anything.

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