Lost in a Storm
On January 10, 1992, a container ship en route from Hong Kong to Washington lost twelve cargo containers during a storm in the North Pacific. One container burst open, releasing 28,800 plastic bath toys—yellow ducks, red beavers, green frogs, and blue turtles—into the ocean.
Tracking the Floatees
Seattle oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and James Ingraham began tracking the toys. The first were found in Alaska ten months later. Hundreds were recovered across 850 kilometers of coastline and logged into a surface current simulation model to study ocean movement patterns.
Through Ice and Across Continents
Based on drift modeling, many of the toys were expected to travel through the Bering Strait, become frozen in Arctic ice, and later emerge into the North Atlantic. Some were predicted to reach North American and European shores over the next decade.
Years of Discovery
By 2003, a $100 reward was offered for any Floatees found in New England, Canada, or Iceland. Sun-bleached ducks and beavers turned white, but turtles and frogs kept their color. The toys helped validate ocean current models over thousands of kilometers and many years.
In 1992, nearly 29,000 plastic bath toys fell into the Pacific Ocean during a storm, launching one of the most unusual scientific experiments ever.
These yellow ducks, red beavers, green frogs, and blue turtles drifted across oceans, ice, and continents for over a decade…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/8cAOhIWDTf
— Detective Tiger's Stories (@TigerDetective) May 11, 2025