Lego washing ashore in Cornwall

In 1997 an atypical wave hit the container ship Tokio Express, and sixty-two containers tumbled into the see off the coast of Cornwall as a result. One of those containers held almost five million pieces of Lego, on their way to New York! As the BBC have reported, Lego has been washing up on nearby shores ever since, and an enthusiastic Lego-finding beach-comber, Tracey Williams, has set up a Facebook page to record findings.

Delightfully, the majority of the pieces seem to have come from the Divers theme (one of my all time favourites), meaning lots of nautical elements are being found on the beaches. There are also quite a lot of Fright Knight elements to be found, and apparently dragons and octopuses are considered highlights.

BBC reports sets from the following other themes were amongst the cargo: Aquazone, Police, Wild West, RoboForce, Time Cruisers, Outback, and Pirates. There also huge quantities of certain elements, including (but not limited to):

• 13,000 spear guns
• 4,200 octopus
• 26,600 lifejackets
• 418,000 pairs of flipper
• 33,941 dragons
• 26,400 ship riggings
• 353,264 sets of flowers
• 97,500 scuba tanks

As fun as this is for Lego hunters, it's also just a small part of the the massive amount of human rubbish clogging up our seas. In addition to hundreds of containers falling off boats every year, all manner of junk ends up in the oceans, most notably huge quantities of plastics, which don't biodegrade. Indeed there's so much plastic in the world now it's become a "normal" part of the mix in sand on beaches, and is even forming a new type of rock, which will mark the human age of pollution long into the future. So if you're near Cornwall, go and find some Lego, and help keep that pesky plastic out of the environment!