Rubber ducks ending ocean voyage

BBCi ^ | 12 July 2003, 13.28

[Lady Jag]

Rubber ducks ending ocean voyage

Updated 12 July 2003, 13.28

Thousands of rubber ducks are expected to wash up on the American coast - after more than 10 years at sea.

The ducks fell overboard from a container ship off the Alaskan coast during a storm in 1992.

Then the ducks - along with lots of other plastic frogs and turtles - set off on a long journey through three oceans.

Iceland to Hawaii

It's thought they were trapped by slow moving ice for several years - it took them until 2000 to reach Iceland.

			Fact File
	What else has been lost at sea?
		34,000 hockey gloves
		3 million pieces of Lego
		30,000 basketball shoes that went overboard in 2002

A year later, they reached the area of the north Atlantic where the Titanic sank.

During their voyage, some of the ducks broke away - and headed for Europe. Others have surfaced in Hawaii.

Scientists have tracked them throughout their long journey, and they say it's taught them valuable lessons about the way that ocean waters move around.

[Lady Jag]

Thousands of rubber ducks are expected to wash up on the American coast - after more than 10 years at sea.

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[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Reminds me of a book I read in grade school called "Paddle Away"

Becky

[Lady Jag]

You must mean this one:

Paddle Little Ducks

Paddle little ducks,
Paddle, paddle all day;
Paddle little ducks,
Paddle, paddle away.

Five little ducks paddling to shore,
One paddled away, then there were four;
Four little ducks paddling toward me,
One paddled away, then there were three;
Three little ducks paddling toward you,
One paddled away, then there were two;
Two little ducks paddling in the sun,
One paddled away, then there was none!

Paddle little ducks,
Paddle, paddle all day;
Paddle little ducks,
Paddle, paddle away.

[Lady Jag]

These guys are paddling home.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

No actually the book was about an Indian boy who carved a canoe out of wood and set it loose in a river. He carved a message on the bottom telling where it came from and to help it on it's way. The story is about all the country it passed thru and the people that helped it on it's way till it finally reached the ocean.

Becky

[fnord]

I remember a TV movie about that from the late '60's, when TV actually produced some serious kids shows for Saturdays.

That said, this is one cool story. I wonder how many ships have passed by this bizarre flotilla in the last few years ...

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Well, it would have been in the 60's that I read it:). I remember my mom was a helper in the library at the school, where I got the book.Every class got to go to the library once a week and get a book. My mom worked on the day I got to go, (I was a big big reader as a kid), she had put that book back for me. She said she had read it as a kid, so it must be a pretty old publication:). I never forgot the story because the premise was so cool, I thought.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

BTW, do you think if they just left them on the beach would the tide take them back out and they could continue their journey? It is a neat story.

Becky

[Rockitz]

Two little ducks paddling in the sun, One paddled away, then there was none!

The arithmetic police have arrived and you are short one duck, mister! What have you got to say for yourself?