Duck Duck Loot
$100 reward involved,
read on:
Back in 1992, a violent storm tossed 20 containers of rubber duckies off the back of a cargo ship halfway between China and Seattle, and they were quickly presumed lost at sea. Instead, it appears the castaways embarked on an epic 11-year swim across three oceans and half the globe. Somehow, they stayed afloat through all magnitude of wind and wave, weathering several winters likely frozen in an arctic ice floe and enduring so many days of exposure their once bright yellow skin has been bleached white as bone.
...Remnants of the lost armada of bath toys, which also includes frogs, beavers and turtles -- nearly 29,000 in all -- are thought to be streaming down the New England seaboard right now. Although there are no confirmed sightings in the Atlantic yet, oceanographers who have documented the movement of flotsam and ice from the Pacific to the Atlantic via the Arctic Ocean are confident some of the ducks ended up over here. A breakaway flotilla of ducks is expected to make landfall in Britain soon as well.
...Anyone who finds one of the three-inch refugees on the East Coast of the United States, Canada or on Iceland earns a $100 U.S. savings bond from the First Years Inc., the company that originally commissioned the toys from a Chinese manufacturer... An authenticated duckie in hand could be worth a lot more than $100, having become something of a cult collector's item during 11 years at sea. Only about 400 of the rare birds have been recovered since the toys went overboard into the middle of the Pacific more than 4,200 days ago.
...How to recognize a true survivor if you come across an orphaned duck, frog, turtle or beaver on the beach?
One of the globe-swimming tub toys will have "First Years" and the company's logo embossed on it, it'll fit in the palm of the hand and its coat will have faded dramatically, probably appearing more white than yellow, blue, green or red.
And, of course, it'll be smiling.
* Ray, 9/01/2003 12:18:23 PM
