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 on Feb 26, 2003 - 13 comments

Mystery of Plastic Tube Debris is Solved, But Wait ... There's Also Translucent Beads!
Marine debris experts were stumped as to the origin of bluish-gray plastic tubes ranging between 5-10 inches and of uneven width that kept washing up on shores. The website Beachcomber's Alert was no help at all. After the Honolulu Advertiser reported on the phenomenon, the pipes washed up on this Japanese website (English), along with a few other mystery objects. The leads came flooding in; mystery solved!
posted by rschram on Nov 1, 2001 - 9 comments