Mapped: The beaches where Lego washes up

BBC ^ | 3 January 2015 | Mario Cacciottolo

[moose07]

The story of millions of Lego pieces washing up on beaches attracted huge interest when first told by the Magazine. The list of places where the toys have been spotted is still growing.

Beachcomber Tracey Williams has been picking up Lego along the Cornish coastline ever since a container spill dumped millions of the toy pieces into the sea in 1997.

Since the curious tale was reported by the Magazine, dozens of people have contacted Williams to say they, too, have found parts of the much-loved toy scattered on shores.

Snip

Most of the people who've contacted her found Lego around Cornwall, she says. "From what I've been told, Perranporth is a hotspot for brooms, and the Lizard seems to be a hotspot for octopuses."

Brighton, East Sussex, some 300 miles away, is the furthest confirmed report she has received to the east along England's southern coastline. But some of the sightings have come from much further afield.

Nearly 4.8 million Lego toy parts fell overboard from the Tokio Express container ship in a storm off Land's End on 13 February 1997.

Williams says the pieces which now drift up on an "almost daily basis" in numerous locations are flippers, spear guns, seagrass, scuba tanks and life preservers.

Elsewhere there have been sightings of the lost Lego in the Gower Peninsula, Wales, and seagrass, spear guns, life preservers and scuba tanks have been found recently at Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire during beach cleans.

Finds have been made abroad too, at Waterville beach in Kerry, Ireland, where an octopus matching those lost from the Tokio Express was found around 2007. Also, another octopus was taken recently to a beachcomber's fair in Florida, which had been found earlier this year at the western end of Galvaston Island in Texas.

[moose07]

[Pajamajan]

Kewl story BUMP.

[moose07]

This is a Hugh and Series story where all of the pieces fit together!

[shibumi]

Well, I guess that explains this then .....

[Pajamajan]

"This is a Hugh and Series story"

Why yesss.....yess it is.

THEY'RE TAKING OVER.

[martin_fierro]

How much longer until they start washing up in ...

... Wait for it ....

... SandyLego?

[Pajamajan]

Well-I for one welcome our new inter-locking plastic overlords.

[moose07]

Your capitulation has been noted.
A place has been reserved for you in ‘Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene’ land.

[AZLiberty]

Why hasn’t some big corporation been persecuted for this massive Lego spill. Where’s the $20 billion dollar clean-up operation to ensure that no haddock chokes on a piece of Lego?

[Tanniker Smith]

Number 3 looks like Lego Cthulu.

[moose07]

They would have to build a case out of millions of loose bits of information.
Then construct a framework for the prosecution.
The case for constructive pollution would just come apart at the seams in court.
Putting it all together block by block could take years!

[CIB-173RDABN]

You would think whoever choose the colors for the legend would have picked contrasting colors. Looks like a dark blue and dark green but to my old eyes the two look the same.

[left that other site]

I would tour all those beaches just for the halibut.

[moose07]

Only the Galveston(TX), Melbourne(AUS), and Texel(NL),locations are marked as unconfirmed.
You're right, terrible colouring. :)

[moose07]

*Groan*

Gives the kids something to find on the beach whilst making sandcastles. :)

[left that other site]

LOL...indeed! :-)

[leapfrog0202]

Great story!

[moose07]

The story has been around for a few years.
But recently has really started to come together.

I've looked for bits but not found anything. :(

[Slyfox]

That shipwreck would make a great idea for another Lego movie.

[moose07]

Oh yes!
Rescuing the fabled lost tribe of Aquatica.
Battlestar Galactica meets Bob Ballard.