Lego Lost At Sea
@legolostatsea
Writer, beachcomber, all at sea. Founder of the award-winning Lego Lost At Sea project. Current Archaeology Rescue Project of the Year. Author of Adrift, The Curious Tale of the Lego Lost At Sea. Cornwall. MD ANT.
Sea grapes or cuttlefish eggs washed up today. We returned them to the water.
Another magnificent barrel jellyfish washed up this morning. Gentle giants of the sea. #Rhizostomapulmo
Another Lego life raft lost overboard from the Tokio Express back in 1997 has been discovered, this time by Belgian fisherman Chris Meyers of fishing vessel Z-91 Franson who hauled it up in his nets southwest of the Isles of Scilly. Picture credit: Chris Meyers
This plastic toy building brick was found in the stomach of a Sable Shearwater chick on Lord Howe, a remote island located off the east coast of Australia. It was discovered by scientists at @adriftlab.bsky.social, a research group focused on seabirds and marine plastics.
So many jellyfish washing ashore. Magnificent barrel jellies (know too as dustbin lid jellyfish because of their size), compass jellies, blue jellies and moon jellyfish. #Cornwall
The World Shipping Council has released its annual Containers Lost at Sea Report, showing that an estimated 1,478 containers were lost at sea in 2025. One major vessel loss accounted for 640 containers. As an aside, there were nearly 5m pieces of Lego inside a container lost at sea in 1997.
Slightly baffled by the fact that the BBC are reporting the arrival of by-the-wind sailors on beaches as headline news tonight - they turn up all the time! Here are some we photographed in Cornwall this week...
Lego hauled out of the sea west of the Isles of Scilly by Belgian fisherman Chris Meyers. Although we’ve seen the green Lego bricks before, we can’t recall seeing any of the black fences, even though 43,200 were lost overboard from the Tokio Express. Just 43,199 black Lego fences still to find, then
Another Lego life raft has surfaced, nearly 30 years after it fell into the sea. This one was found last week by Belgian fisherman Diego Vandierendonck, who hauled it up in his nets while fishing south of the Isles of Scilly. Picture credit: Diego Vandierendonck.
Look what Lucy McCarthy found at Rhossili Bay on the beautiful Gower Peninsula in Wales at the weekend – a black Lego dragon, one of 33,427 lost overboard from the Tokio Express back in 1997. Very many thanks to Lucy for sharing her story and picture with us.
The things we leave behind. #oceanplastic #marinedebris #beachlitter #beachfinds
On Coral Beach, Cheung Chau island, 10km southwest of Hong Kong, a single Lego flower among thousands of bits of plastic strewn across the shore. Could it be from the spill?
Sad to find another puffin washed up today. There have been so many.
Indeed - in fact we have one of these in our ‘collection’ - not found by us but kindly donated to the cause by a beachcomber in France!
Of course not - much of the Lego from the spill has been found by people who pick up plastic from beaches on a regular basis, often daily. We highlight these finds to show how long plastic persists in the coastal environment. The Lego was lost overboard nearly 30 years ago and it's still washing up
Last night, on the shores beneath St Michael’s Mount, the ancient tidal island off the coast of Cornwall, Liutauras found a Lego dragon - one of nearly 34,000 lost overboard from the cargo ship Tokio Express back in 1997.
13th February 2026 marks the 29th anniversary of the Great Lego Spill, when nearly five million pieces of Lego fell into the ocean after a cargo ship laden with goods was hit by a storm.
It's sad to find them washed up but yes, they are beautiful...
The Lego reports continue to come in thick and fast. Many thanks to our friends Julian and Jess Tredinnick, who sent us these pictures of their beach clean today at Marazion in Cornwall. "Two bin bags of rubbish hardly made a dent," they told us. "But we did spot some treasure."
We've been finding lots of these washed up recently. We understand they are pall rings, used in the chemical, petrochemical and oil refining industries. Anyone here familiar with them? We understand they're used in waste water treatment too.
Six years ago Sarah Rutherford found a Lego octopus while litter picking on Rock beach in Cornwall. Then yesterday she found another at Polzeath. “I gave the first Lego octopus I found away and always felt a bit sad," she said. "This one’s a keeper." Picture credit: Sarah Rutherford
“The shark was in the seaweed and I only noticed it when my dog Otis knocked the top layer of seaweed with his paw and exposed the tail,” said Emma. “I was with my neighbour and she told me about the spill. I hadn't found Lego before.” Otis is a very good boy. Picture credit: Emma Fraser Trecurno
Another Lego shark has been found! It was discovered on Sunday by Emma Fraser Trecurno at East Portholland beach in Cornwall. It's one of 51,800 Lego sharks that fell into the ocean on 13th February 1997. Picture credit: Emma Fraser Trecurno
Why are there so many monopoly houses in the sea? We've found dozens over the years - and most of the beachcombers we know have discovered them too. This one washed up yesterday.