Random Gleee

[miekec]

During a Pacific storm on January 10th 1992, three 40ft containers were washed off a ship containing 30,000 plastic bath toys from a Chinese factory. Two thirds of the ducks floated south and landed 3 months later on the shores of Indonesia, Australia and South America. The remaining 10,000 ducks headed north to Alaska and then completed a full circle back near Japan, caught up in the North Pacific Gyre current. Many of the ducks then entered the Bering Straight between Alaska and Russia and were trapped in the Arctic ice. They moved through the ice at a rate of 1 mile per day and in 2000 they were sighted in the North Atlantic. The movement of the ducks had been monitored by Curtis Ebbesmeyer an American oceanographer.

Apparently, they've thawed, and are likely to wash up on US and British beaches this year. Here's a recent article, with a nice map of where they've traveled to.

And yes, of course Wikipedia also has an article on them.

(found in cedarseed's post)