Tuesday 1 May 2012

Flotsam & Harleysam

In these days when the world's biggest most mobile garbage pile
is also known as the Pacific Ocean, it's not surprising that
it is coffing (coughing) up riches, because it sure can't
sustain the fishing industry, and the fish are all polluted
by plastic, Fukushima Juice and you-name-it, anyway.

But, motorbikes?
motorbikes with Japanese plates?

Actually, some places are really sustained by what the ocean
chucks up. There's a British island that gets containers regularly.
Other places have tempted boats to crash on their shores in order
to get their booty. I heard about it on CBC or BBC, strangely,
a shipment of Japanese motorbikes [I'll try to get this].
There was a story like that in a movie based in Newfoundland,
with Kevin Spacey, the Shipping News.

IshitUnot: CBC
Motorcycle washed up in B.C. may be Japanese tsunami debris
An estimated 1.5 million tonnes of flotsam believed to be headed to Canada
A beachcomber on British Columbia's Haida Gwaii islands has discovered what may be the first piece of debris from the Japanese tsunami to arrive in Canada.

Peter Mark was riding his ATV, exploring an isolated beach on Graham Island on April 18, when he made a spectacular find.

"You just never know what you're going to stumble upon when you go for a drive, and lo and behold you just come across something that's out of this world," he said.

Mark found a large white cube, like the back part of a moving truck, just below the high tide mark.


"The door was ripped off it and I could see a motorcycle tire sticking out," he said. "So I went closer and looked inside and saw a Harley-Davidson motorcycle."

The bike was rusty, particularly on the wheels and handlebars, but the logo on the fuel tank was unmistakable.

"First I thought, this has got to be the craziest thing anyone has ever found," he said.

"Then I looked a little closer and the licence had Japanese writing on it. The wall of the trailer had Japanese print on the tags. And the first thing that popped into my head was this is likely from the Tsunami in Japan."

The licence plate shows the motorcycle found on the shores of British Columbia was registered in Japan's Miyagi Prefecture. (Peter Mark/CBC)The motorcycle's licence plate shows it was registered in Miyagi Prefecture, and writing on the container matches photos of a commonly used Japanese moving van.