The Cornish Beaches Where Lego Pieces Wash Up

In 1997, a ship was hit by a wave that tilting the ship 60 degrees one way, then 40 degrees back, sweeping 62 containers overboard about 20 miles off the Cornish coast. One of the containers held millions of pieces of Lego which continue to wash ashore to this day.
People collect the pieces they find on the beaches. Tracey Williams runs a Facebook page which keeps track of Lego pieces which have turned up as far away as Melbourne Australia.

Lost Lego Pieces
Cargo included:
Toy kits - Divers, Aquazone, Aquanauts, Police, FrightKnights, WildWest, RoboForce TimeCruisers, Outback, Pirates
Spear guns (red and yellow) - 13,000 items
Black octopus - 4,200
Yellow life preserver - 26,600
Diver flippers (in pairs: black, blue, red) - 418,000
Dragons (black and green) - 33,941
Brown ship rigging net - 26,400
Daisy flowers (in fours - white, red, yellow) - 353,264
Scuba and breathing apparatus (grey) - 97,500
Total of 4,756,940 Lego pieces lost overboard in a single container
Estimated 3,178,807 may be light enough to have floated
Source: Beachcombers' Alert, vol 2. No 2 1997

Sea debris and plastic don't go away and the pieces that remain in the water are deadly for wildlife which ingest them. Unfortunately legislation cannot always prevent containers falling into the ocean as a result of violent weather. On the positive side the pieces that wash up tell a lot about the mysterious world of oceans and tides.
More: BBC News