Nike flotsam

February 26, 2003 8:01 PM

Need a pair of Nikes? Fifteen or so thousand pairs of Nikes were lost overboard December 12th while on their way to Tacoma and are making their way north. Some of those shoes started to show up on the Washington coast late last month. The bulk of these shoes will find their way to the Alaskan coast and the Aleutian shores. You may have a problem finding a good pair; the shoes were not bound to their mates. This isn't the first time Nike has lost a load of shoes (and here). In fact, in just a little poking around, it seems that there is all sorts of flotsam drifting along the ocean currents.
posted by YohonTheLarge (13 comments total)

This happened a few years ago in much the same place, with the "benefit" of a slew of nikes washing up onshore on Vancouver Island. Minus the amusing side effect of a brisk size trading marketplace in remote areas, this mostly just means a bunch more trash on the beach. With container ships working on the probablility of most of their high-stacked loads like this arrving safely, flotsam and jetsam fluxes on the coast are here to stay. Blows: nicest part of the world, IMHO.
posted by copmuter at 8:37 PM on February 26, 2003

[see last link] Maybe if one of those floating lego packages comes my way, I can finally finish that space station I've been working on for the past 14 years...
posted by sudasana at 8:43 PM on February 26, 2003

I'm not quite sure why people think this is so bizarre. Ships have been losing cargo at sea throughout recorded history, and it certainly increased substantially with both migration to the New World and the industrial revolution. The difference, perhaps, is that today the items lost will tend to be manufactured goods, where before raw materials were a more likely load. What brings us to the present day is the sheer volume being carried in containers, and the number of them lost overboard -- as the article notes, 1000 in a single month worldwide. Many burst, but others float -- and unfortunately they seem to have a specific gravity that places their top near the surface, making them a hazard to navigation for smaller craft.
posted by dhartung at 8:52 PM on February 26, 2003

Here is a company that sells shipping containers. Look at the picture at the top of the ship with containers falling off into the ocean as the ship barely misses plowing into dolphin.
posted by stbalbach at 9:39 PM on February 26, 2003

I was on the beach yesterday. I found a bottle that had a label on it and all the writing was in Dutch. Unfortunately the contents had been drunk already, so I guess it has no relevance to this story. Oh well.

And did anyone notice that even the Associated Press don't know how to use the term 'Lego'?

3 million tiny Legos

They're not "Legos" you dumb journalists :-) "Hi there, can I order two McDonalds and fries please?"
posted by wackybrit at 10:08 PM on February 26, 2003

15,000 pairs of Nikes lost? My god, that's $1050 in wages down the drain!

(Sorry, but somebody had to.)
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:40 PM on February 26, 2003

Ships have been losing cargo at sea throughout recorded history, and it certainly increased substantially with both migration to the New World and the industrial revolution. The difference, perhaps, is that today the items lost will tend to be manufactured goods, where before raw materials were a more likely load.

That's all good and fine, but we also live in a world now where we (sorta try) to deal with the environmental impact of said accidents. When this happens and blame can be placed, it there a fine or cost associated with such events? This cannot be positive for the natural environment.
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:38 PM on February 26, 2003

They're not "Legos" you dumb journalists :-) "Hi there, can I order two McDonalds and fries please?"

Huh? Who actually refers to them as "Lego bricks"? Do you actually say "Band-aid brand adhesive strips" and "McDonald's restaurant"?
posted by Gary at 12:21 AM on February 27, 2003

The plural of 'Lego' is 'Lego'.
posted by metaxa at 1:10 AM on February 27, 2003

Just like the plural of virus is virus.

Of course, I prefer virii, becuase it brings out the grammarians. It's always fun picking a fight with them; even when I'm wrong.
posted by shepd at 2:03 AM on February 27, 2003

I think all these sneakers are an example of "drift in" - economics. Pretty soon we'll have containers of old US Gov. surplus cheese falling out of airplane cargo doors and landing in US inner-cities. keeps 'em quiet. they'll eat anything in there....you know, they're poor because they don't save enough.....spendng all that money on expensive sneakers...
posted by troutfishing at 4:27 AM on February 27, 2003

For those who are comfortable downloading .exe files from the Internet, beachcombers.org (linked from Yohon's last link) has drift simulations available for toy animals, hockey gloves and Nikes on their photos page (or by clicking one of these links).
posted by me3dia at 8:31 AM on February 27, 2003

YTL, this is a very interesting post - thanks!
posted by madamjujujive at 5:46 PM on February 28, 2003