In 1992, a cargo container was washed off a ship in Hong Kong, which resulted in the release of around 29,000 floating bath toys into the ocean. As they made their way around the world, these toys eventually proved to be an extraordinarily significant resource for testing computer models of ocean currents as they drifted through the water.The crew of a Japanese fishing trawler was the first to report this incident to the Hong Kong Marine Police.
They had observed the container floating in the ocean and informed the Hong Kong Marine Police of their discovery. The ship's crew had reported the container missing after a typhoon, and it was discovered later to have been carrying a load of bath toys that were bound for the United States.The toys, which were constructed of plastic and were intended to be played with in water, were engineered to float.
They were immediately carried far and wide by the currents, and soon began to wash up on beaches in every region of the globe.Over the course of the subsequent few years, the bath toys evolved into a useful instrument for scientists who studied the currents of the ocean. They were able to confirm their computer models and gain a better understanding of the flow of the oceans by following the movements of the toys as they were played with.
People started collecting the bath toys and following their voyage across the world, which led to the toys becoming something of a sensation in their own right. In the year 1998, one of the first bath toys was discovered on a beach in Wales. This location was more than 6,000 miles away from where the toy had first been located.
The story of the floating bath toys is an intriguing illustration of the force of the ocean currents and the way in which these currents may connect people and objects from all over the world.