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Shipwrecked LEGOs
TRACEY WILLIAMS/LEGO LOST AT SEA
UNDERSEA PIECES: Most of the LEGO pieces that spilled overboard in 1997 were (coincidentally) ocean themed.
JIM MCMAHON/MAPMAN ®
In 1997, a wave hit a cargo ship off the coast of Cornwall, England. This sent a container holding nearly 5 million LEGO® pieces tumbling overboard. The plastic pieces continue to wash up on beaches from England to the Netherlands.
Most LEGO pieces are made of a dense, durable plastic called ABS. Like all plastics, this material doesn’t biodegrade, or break down naturally. It can last in the ocean for 100 to 1,300 years. “We suspect there are still millions of pieces out there,” says Tracey Williams, a writer who’s been monitoring the spill for decades. She is the author of Adrift: The Curious Tale of the Lego Lost at Sea, which chronicles the impact of the “Great LEGO Spill.”
Cargo ship containers can fall overboard during a storm or end up in the ocean if a ship sinks. Which year saw the most shipping containers lost? Which year saw the fewest?
SOURCE: WORLD SHIPPING COUNCIL