5 strange things that have washed ashore due to extreme weather
The oceans cover 71 percent of the Earth's surface, and there is no shortage of bizarre objects riding currents only to end up on different beaches.
Severe weather is at least partly to blame for items that have been tossed from cargo ships, washed away during a tsunami or unearthed during a hurricane.
Below are five examples of strange objects that have washed ashore on beaches across the globe.
Buoy bomb
A family was shocked to find out the washed-up buoy they were touching turned out to be an active bomb. The two kids decided to pose in front of an extremely dangerous object.
The family didn't find out until days later when officials made an announcement saying the “buoy” was a United States military mine bomb.
The Coast Guard and a bomb squad later evacuated the beach and blew up the bomb in a controlled explosion.
Bananas
Residents of two Dutch North Sea islands were surprised when thousands of unripe bananas washed onto their shores, according to Radio Netherlands Worldwide. The fruit came from a container that had fallen off a cargo ship during a storm.
People congregated on the beach to catch a glimpse of all of the bananas. There were so many bananas covering the coastline that some suggested donating them to a local zoo.
Favorable currents, strong north-westerly winds and nearby shipping routes make the islands a target for debris to wash ashore.
Nike shoes
Over sixty thousand Nike shoes flew overboard from a storm-tossed ship in the mid-Pacific in 1990. Scientist have been tracking the shoes for decades. Ten years later, some are still floating across the ocean.
Oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer displays debris--a survey marker, child's toy and Nike shoe. He's picked up from ocean beaches, Wednesday, March 30, 2011, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer has traced Nike sneakers, rubber bath toys and hockey gloves spilled from Asian shipping containers over the decades, as well as flotsam from Japan's tsunamis and earthquake.
A motorcycle
A Harley-Davidson Motorcycle that survived the 2011 Japan tsunami ended up on the shore of Graham Island in western Canada, after traveling the 4,000 miles because of a great tsunami in Japan.
The bike was in a storage container that was insulated, which made it buoyant, so the Harley stayed in tact through the year-long journey across the Pacific.
It was identified by the numbered container, and the owner was contacted. The bike was not repairable. Harley-Davidson offered the owner a brand new motorcycle to replace it, but the owner declined the offer. He instead requested the bike be displayed at a museum as remembrance of the 2011 tragedy and the lives it changed forever.
Civil War-era cannonballs
Police shut down a section of a beach in South Carolina after 150-year-old explosives were unearthed by Hurricane Matthew.
(Charleston County Sheriff's Office via AP)
“A local resident was walking on the beach on that side of the island and noticed them. He was immediately aware of what they were and notified our dispatch,” Folly Beach Public Safety Dept. Chief Andrew Gilreath said.
The Charleston County Ordinance Disposal Team decided to transport some of the cannonballs to a nearby Navy base to be destroyed.
(Image via 1st Class Sean Carness)
"Finding ordnance along the coastline after a major storm or during construction is fairly common, especially in cities that were heavily fortified during the Civil War,” Air Force Master Sgt. Joseph Leslie, noncommissioned officer in charge of Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Resources at the Joint Base in Charleston, South Carolina, said.
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