From magic wands to witches' hats and black bats, our new book about the great Lego spill of 1997 will reveal what else plummeted into the ocean on that fateful day. #oceanplastic
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Lego Lost At Sea
@LegoLostAtSea
In 1997 nearly 5m bits of Lego fell into the sea. Adrift is our bestselling book about it. Award-winning finder of dragons & MD Alternative National Treasure.
Joined July 2014
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Often, I have been asked why people do not collect and make money from the plastic in the river, I tell them it is a hard & expensive task to do . Yesterday, I challenged myself- got into the water for one hour to see how much of the recyclable plastic waste I’d be able to gather
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Egg capsules on plastic debris washed ashore. We believe these are netted dog whelk egg capsules. Each capsule contains hundreds of eggs. #oceanplastic #marinedebris
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We regularly receive requests from museums/science institutes and educational establishments in different parts of the world for samples of the Lego from the spill to go on display so are keen to help where possible.
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If anyone has any Lego from the 1997 spill that they would like to donate to a good cause, please send us a DM! This Lego dragon was kindly donated by Lucy and Edward Thresher and will go on show at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, USA.
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Today our beautiful, broken #AdriftLab team removed >400 #plastics from one baby #seabird and >50g from another. It’s been rough (!), proud of how we’ve rallied around one another 
#PlasticIsNotADistraction #Ecogrief #LordHoweIsland
#PlasticIsNotADistraction #Ecogrief #LordHoweIsland4
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Today our beautiful, broken #AdriftLab team removed >400 #plastics from one baby #seabird and >50g from another. It’s been rough (!), proud of how we’ve rallied around one another 💔🐦♻️ #PlasticIsNotADistraction #Ecogrief #LordHoweIsland
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Some of the many toothbrushes we have picked up from Cornish beaches... 😐
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In Feb, a container of goods bound for Lidl Spain fell off the cargo ship WEC VAN EYCK. Among the items that plummeted overboard were Dentalux toothbrushes. Thousands washed up in the Channel Islands and on the Dorset coast. We found these in North Cornwall last week. #LidlSpill
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Another unused Dentalux toothbrush washed up. These are from the cargo ship Wec Van Eyck, which lost a container of Lidl goods bound for Spain in Feb 22. Many years ago, a friend found 100s of toothbrushes washed up. He told us he had a lifetime's supply for him and his family.
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One beach, one storm, 287 pairs of glasses/sunglasses (and parts thereof) washed up with seaweed from the seabed. #cornwall #marinedebris
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And while we're on the Star Wars theme, here's the Star Wars duvet cover we found washed up.
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Still remember the day we found this figure - it drifted past as we stood in the water…
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And May the 4th be with you! (Thanks to everyone who reminded me...where is the edit button when you need it 🙄)
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Can anyone help our friend Bo Eide in Norway decipher this name tag?
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Crisp packets from our museum of plastic in the sand. Some are over 50 years old. Remember Chipmunk Crisps, Odd Uns, Rileys and Fangs?
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First image: Greek Cycladic marble figure, circa 2500-2400 BCE. Second image: Plastic figure of Kronk, The Emperor's New Groove, McDonald's Happy Meal toy, 2000, found on a Cornish beach, early 2023.
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Another of these washed up today. I wonder how many are dropped into the ocean each year.
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My brother stripped the ivy from an old cherry tree this morning. Found this.
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Can you help us solve a beachcombing mystery? Does anyone know what these glass disks are? Our great friend Ana Pego, an author and beachcomber from Portugal, found lots of these on Hac Sa beach in Macau, China.
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Can anyone help Anna ID her find?
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ID help please! This metal snake was found embedded in stone by a visiting school group @MontroseBasin! 
#archaeology
@FindsGroup @HeatherB_FLO @LegoLostAtSea @ItsmeDazx
#archaeology
@FindsGroup @HeatherB_FLO @LegoLostAtSea @ItsmeDazx
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Ha! My brilliant, supportive Mum just texted me this - she surreptitiously left it below my book in her local
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Even manmade objects can become miniature coral reefs. This Lego door frame has been lying at the bottom of the sea for 26 years and has a tiny Devonshire cup coral growing inside one of its studs. It's one of over 18,000 lost from the cargo ship Tokio Express in 1997.
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The palisade bricks that tumbled overboard from the cargo ship Tokio Express were destined for the 1997 Lego Pirates Perilous Pitfall set.
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We suspect there are probably still tens of thousands of these palisade bricks lying on the seabed, gradually being colonised by marine life and breaking apart into microplastics.
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These 'old brown' palisade bricks are from the 1997 Lego set Pirates Perilous Pitfall. Although over 34,000 tumbled overboard, only a handful have come to light.
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Very few of these palisade bricks from the Great Lego Spill of 1997 have been reported but in the last week two have been found. One was trawled up in a fisherman's net 20 miles off Land's End, while the other washed up in North Cornwall.
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Tiny treasures among the trash, some decades old. The figurine on the bottom right was produced for Pepsi Cola to mark the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. All found on Cornish beaches.
#beachcombing #oceanplastic #Anthropocene
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Found the remains of a phone in Cyprus today, near the Akrotiri Shipwreck. Also found this thing with writing on. No idea what it is.
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Lots of #oceanplastics on the beaches after the recent storms, including this pretty remarkable (saddening) sight of seaweed growing *through* a bottle washed up at #Poldhu #Cornwall. Alas the Lego treasure trove there continues to elude me !
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And the brilliant who helped get the book over the finishing line when I had a complete crisis of confidence.
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Truly honoured to find our book Adrift has been nominated for the Mountbatten Award for Best Book. So many people contributed: beachcombers, oceanographers, maritime archaeologists, fishermen, divers. Thank you all. And special thanks to who designed & illustrated it
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Congratulations to Tracey Williams who has been nominated for the Mountbatten Award for Best #Book for Adrift: The Curious Tale of the @LegoLostAtSea (@UnicornPubGroup)!
Find out who made the #MaritimeMediaAwards2022 list at: maritimefoundation.uk/awards/nominat
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A friend in Florida asked what I would have been doing in 1997-98 when this tag was lost. It's fair to say I was probably searching the beaches of South Devon for Lego, with my children. #treasurehunt
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