Eager-eyed beachcombers are often on the lookout for seaglass, pottery or pretty shells. However, for visitors to Cornwall, their eyes are on the sand for a different treasure — one that is the result of a disaster shipping incident almost 30 years ago.
1997 Ship Disaster
On February 13, 1997, a German container ship was travelling off the coast of Land’s End in Cornwall when it was struck by a massive rogue wave. This wave caused the ship to tilt, and 62 containers were lost to the ocean. One of these containers held 4.8 million Lego pieces. Ironically, most of them were ocean themed.
These spilled pieces then drifted in the ocean currents for years before finally landing ashore coastlines across the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands. Some even made it as far as Australia.
Finders Keepers
Lego company officials issued a finders keepers statement telling people they were welcome to take any pieces they found, but they should wash them well first. The firm also opened a hotline so people could report where they picked them up and the business could offer to help with any clean up operations.
Because the pieces are made from the durable acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic, they are resistant to degradation and chemical breakdown and a 2020 study estimated the bricks could survive in the ocean and on the beaches for 1,300 years.
Lego Beach
The coast of Cornwall is known as ‘Lego Beach’ to those in the know, and people spend hours hunting for the tiny plastic toys. The Lego pieces that fell overboard are now hunted by beachcombers, with people trying to find the holy grail of the disaster — the octopus piece. Other items like flippers, scuba tanks and swords are more common but the octopuses are prized as only 4,200 of them were aboard the ship making them much more rare to find.
