Some men, the saying goes, have greatness thrust upon them. Curtis Ebbesmeyer had 29,000 plastic bathtub toys thrust on him. The plastic duckies, turtles, frogs, and beavers escaped from a container ...

Buoyant items that end up in the sea — from tennis shoes to tree branches — drift at the mercy of winds and ocean currents, sometimes for thousands of miles. Seafarers have analyzed such debris, ...

You may have heard the saga of the seafaring Nikes. On May 27, 1990, a cargo vessel en route to Los Angeles hit a sudden storm. Five containers of Nike shoes washed overboard. The next winter, shoes ...

Pioneering oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer unravels the mystery of marine currents, uncovers the astonishing story of flotsam, and changes the world's view of trash, the ocean, and our global ...

The tale of Curtis Ebbesmeyer's use of beachcombing to reveal patterns of ocean circulation conveys the romance of early marine science, but his lessons for today are serious, finds Simon Boxall. You ...

Part oceanography lesson, part memoir, this cheerful book examines Ebbesmeyer’s life and work as a pioneering oceanographer (the first to work for Mobil/Standard Oil, in 1969) and connoisseur of beach ...