Happy 2025! everyone. Welcome to all my new readers. I’m excited to take you down my curious research rabbit holes this year. Whether you’re a writer interested in my research obsessions or a curious reader who wants to add a bit of whimsy and trivia to their life - pull up a chair.
In my last issue, I spoke with dystopian/Cli-Fi author Phil Gilvin about his work and the genre. If you’re the winner of his book, Truth Sister, I’ve sent you a direct email. Congrats. Be sure to post a review!
My latest manuscript is with my agent waiting for either a happy note that she loves it or not.
While I’m in limbo, I’m revisiting an older manuscript. One of the main characters - Violet - is a modern day treasure hunter. She’s a marine archeologist who makes a dubious living hunting for valuable objects - coins, gems, pottery. She’s a bit of a pirate.
I’ve been away from this project for many years and I’m reading it with fresh eyes. That also means revisiting my original research to learn what’s new or rather new to me.
Crap Overboard
Since the dawn of seafaring, humans have lost both their lives and their possessions overboard. Though our ships are now bigger than buildings, the oceans and the weather are mighty. The World Shipping Council released its 2024 report on containers lost at sea. It seems 2023 was a “good” year with only 221 containers lost. This is the lowest number since they began keeping track in 2008. But, these are only the reported containers.
According to an AP newswire story (with great photos) “more than 80% of international trade by volume arrives by sea.” When a shipping container goes overboard it can be devastating not for the financial loss but the ecological damage. The container crushes everything it lands on and that’s just the bruising it causes. If it bursts open and contains hazardous materials, it is spilled directly into the ocean. Then the contents begin to wash to shore harming local fishing and killing wildlife,
Over the last decade upwards of 20,000 containers have been lost at sea. And no one seems to be responsible for salvaging them. The Coast Guard has limited authority unless the containers land in a marine sanctuary.
The Great Lego Spill
As with all research related searches, I stumbled onto something I didn’t know - The Great Lego Spill of 1997!
On February 13, 1997, a rogue wave hit the cargo ship Tokio Express. It was loaded in Rotterdam, the Netherlands heading for New York. One of the 62 shipping containers swept away was one containing 5 million pieces of Legos. And in a weird plot twist, they were sea themed Legos.
Twenty-eight years later, these tiny colorful pieces of plastic are still washing ashore in Cornwall and other beaches across the United Kingdom. Microplastic environmental disaster aside, the Lego spill has turned into a scavenger hunt with a dedicated Facebook page, the Lego Lost at Seas project and a book Adrift. Check out this Smithsonian article about the Legos. The pictures are worth the link and you can read more about the disaster!
I’m intrigued by what scientists have learned from this and it may end up in my rewrite.
Before the Legos Came the Ducks
This is a story I did know. In 1992, five years before the Great Lego spill, was the Friendly Floatees spill where 28,000 rubber bath toys: yellow ducks, red beavers, and green turtles were swept out to sea in a January storm in the South Pacific. What happened next was scientific serendipity. Oceanographers began mapping the ducks and they helped map ocean currents. The video below is a “friendly” telling of the story but gets the point across. It’s good to remember that this plastic spill wasn’t good for the health of the ocean or the animals that ingested them.
Garfield on the Beach
Over 30 years ago, another consumer environmental spill contaminated the beaches of France - Garfield. The one and only lasagna-loving tabby.
It took decades before this mystery was solved by a French farmer. A shipping container of Garfield telephones was lost at sea and ended up in a fissure in the cliffs of Brittany.
Beach Combing
I’ve been sifting through beach sand since I could take my first steps, mainly looking for sea shells. But I do remember one summer when my father became interested in metal detectors. This also would have coincided with his interest in CB radios (that’s another newsletter.) I don’t remember finding much of interest, but I do remember the metal detector and they are still being made and used.
Have you found anything interesting with a metal detector?
What the Heck is Beach Glass?
Beach glass and sea glass are according to this article two different things. But I’m like really?
It is formed from broken pieces of glass that over the course of several decades are smoothed and worn by the ocean’s currents. Trash to treasure?
Where to Look for Treasure
This article introduced several new terms to me that I just think are funny, the treasure coin line - tidal pools that collected what the ocean brings to the shore. Towel line - where you find most people on the beach and where people lose their stuff. I love the idea some treasure seekers are so dedicated to beach combing that these terms are real.
Interesting Objects Found on the Beach
Take a few clicks and check out some of these beach finds.
50 of the most interesting things people have found on the beach
16 strange things to wash up on the beach
My Beachy News
And speaking of the beach, The Pelican Tide is on sale in January in the United States, the UK, and Australia. I hope you’ll give it a read if you haven’t already. Thank you to everyone who has picked up my book and who has left a review.
Come See Me ! Generation Women
I’m beyond thrilled to have been picked to speak at the inaugural Generation Women DC event on January 29th. I am representing team “50” and speaking about how I became a published author. Tickets are on sale now.
Next up will be April 2-5 in Miami, Florida where I’m part of an AMAZING climate fiction author panel with authors, JoeAnn Hart, Arroyo Circle and Julie Carrick Dalton, The Last Beekeeper as we speak at FIU’s Conference on Narrative Fiction.
Invite me to Your Book Club
I’m now filling my calendar for 2025 bookclub appearances either local to me in Northern Virginia and on Zoom. Reach out if you’re interested in The Pelican Tide as your next book club read.
I get many emails from authors I've met or taken courses from, etc.; yours are consistently the most enjoyable. I always learn something interesting. Thanks for taking the time to give us contact worth coming back for!
It sure is fascinating and puts a different spin on the beach combing I did.