June 28, 2007

An armada of rubber duckies is heading for Britain. The vast flotilla of 29,000 plastic yellow ducks, blue turtles and green frogs broke free from a cargo ship 15 years ago. Since then they have travelled 17,000 miles, now they are heading straight for Britain.
posted by At Swim Two Birds 17 years ago
  • ZOMG! *packs for beach*
  • People today are all down on Globalism and environmental abuse and stuff, but it leads to cute things like this, too... And I clearly see a red beaver in that photo, yet no mention of them in the articles. I demand an end to this Anti-Canadian bias!
  • I love red beavers. ;)
  • And red beavers love otter bile.
  • What a great way to start my day. Awesome post. Thanks!!
  • There's a great article about this in Harper's. Unfortunately, it looks like only subscribers can access it on the web site. So suck it!
  • the ducks have become collector’s items, changing hands for £50 Memo to self: 1. Buy some plastic ducks. 2. and bleach. 3. Soak. 4. Ebay. 5. Profit!
  • Whoops, I dropped a zero, the article said £500!
  • ...we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender... -- Winston Churchill
  • That Harper's article was quite interesting, going from, yes, the artistic/poetic aspect of a bunch of childhood toys crossing the planet and helping us understand the complexities of sea currents, to the scary ecological impact of plastics on the marine environment at large.
  • No one sees what is going on here? These aren't just any duckies,,these are Chinese Duckies, and they have been planning this world domination for a long time. We must nuke the ducks immediately!!! It's our only chance!!
  • I would love to have one of these ducks. Not because they're worth money, but because they're just that badass.
  • Mmmm... Peking Duck /Homer
  • Even the most wayward children find their way home in the end.
  • Monkeyfilter: not because they're worth money, but because they're just that badass I don't really understand how they managed to kind of get through the ice from Pacific to Atlantic. Did they find the fabled North West Passage?
  • Global warming, darling. Global warming.
  • I understand the only reason these travelled so far was to rack up frequent floater miles. I would LOVE to find one on the beach just so I could scream "Duck!" really really loud.
  • You could just go to a random beach and yell "Duck", just to see what happens.
  • Thanks, gomi. I now have a nice case of rubber duckie, you're the one! ear-worm...
  • You make beach time, oh so fun! Rubber duckie I'm awfully fond of you. *hums When I squeeze you, you make noise Rubber Duckie you're my very best friend it's true I find a little fellow who's cute and yellow and chubby Rub a dub dubby Rubber Duckie you're so fine and I'm lucky that you're mine Rubber Duckie I'd like a whole pond of you Rubber Duckie I'm awfully fond of you *looks up NO! I was NOT singing that to Capt. Renault.
  • Too late. He's already playing happily in the tub. With his rubber duckie.
  • Oh, this is beautiful. This is a thing of beauty. I'm speechless. Thanks At Swim Two Ducks, er, Birds.
  • I plan to have very happy dreams after seeing this. Thank you, inert duckies.
  • One has landed at St Nazaire! And they've mutated after all that time at sea. Okay, here's the real story.
  • Holy snapping duckshit!
  • That giant duckie is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my sorry life. I hope he or one of his cousins comes to New York soon. How can you be sad after seeing something like that? IIRC, night before last I finally caught Lord Love a Duck on TCM. Seriously weird little movie, a must-see for Roddy MacDowall fans.
  • Is Duckie in front of the submarine base at La Rochelle? Nice.
  • Oh -- didn't notice Roryk's comment. U-boat base, not submarine base. My mistake.
  • OK, this is neat. Artist-dude has done a lot of work in places I'm quite familiar with. My uncles used to have an office around the corner from this Gele Straat. My Oma used to live down the street from the site of the seige-sized bunny in Vlaardingen...
  • Is that the thatched musk rat? Awesome piece of work.
  • ah, i see the siegebunny now. trojanbunny?
  • The muskrat is to the west of where my people come from, roryk, not too far away. (Not too far away -- what am I saying? It's Holland, fer crissakes.)
  • HMS Duckie!
  • Holy gorgeous giant duck!
  • Ah, velvetrabbit, thank you for the link with the facs about getting water out of your rubber duck. Sad to say, many a duck has developed a terminal mold problem and been consigned to "ducky heaven" as we gently refer to the garbage truck.