plastic pollution

The Past

This week: Child’s play!

It was, according to the ship's captain, a 'once in a 100-year phenomenon'. On 13 February 1997, the 944ft-long cargo vessel Tokio Express was en route from Rotterdam to New York when it was hit by a freak wave about 20 miles off Land’s End, causing it to tilt so violently that 62 lorry-sized containers were thrown into the ocean.

BELOW Black and green dragons from the ‘lost’ cargo of Lego, which is still washing up on British beaches today.

Current Archaeology
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Archaeology adrift? A curious tale of Lego lost at sea

Twenty-five years ago, a cargo of millions of pieces of Lego was washed overboard during a storm off Land’s End. To this day, tiny pieces of plastic are still being found on Cornish beaches. Joe Flatman reports on a project working to document these finds.