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Gary Higgins / Patriot Ledger via AP
Richard Figueiredo poses with a lobster trap in Pembroke, Mass.
The 1991 "Perfect Storm," the deadly event off Massachusetts that led to a best-selling book and Hollywood movie, is still generating news. A man who lost lobster traps in the storm was contacted by a beachcomber in Ireland who'd found a tag with his last name on it.
A quick search on Facebook led to a connection last week and then a phone call Thursday brought the two sides even closer together, The PatriotLedger.com reported Friday.
"You can see it's been around," said Richard Figueiredo of the trap tag after seeing a photo sent by beachcomber Rosemary Hill of Waterville, Kerry County.
"A very well-traveled tag indeed" is how Curt Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer known for studying flotsam, described the find. He estimated it could have drifted 50,000 miles in currents before ending up on the Irish beach.
The tag likely drifted into the Gulf Stream, Ebbesmeyer said, where it would then float into the mid-Atlantic and probably get stuck in a huge gyre that traps flotsam for multiple three-year loops before letting go. The pot itself might have been stuck in the ocean floor for many years before the tag came free and started drifting, he said.
Figueiredo said that Hill offered to mail the tag back, but he wants her to keep it.
"The meaning it has over there is what matters," he said. "I am honored that she has put so much enthusiasm into this. What's happening now is a gift to me."
Leave a Comment:
OMG they ate my lobster, it was in the cage
OMG LMFAO LOL 4 u 2 say that!
god i hate text@!$%#languagewriting.
Kramer
Everything that happens in life seems to have happened on Seinfeld. It's what I always think of first. I bought a big digital clock with date, time, day of week for my aged father. At night it lights up the room like a Kenny Rogers Roaster sign.
we notice the Seinfeld affect here in our household too...happens all the time...wish that show would come back...still love it! Almost time for Festivus..for the rest of us.....Feats of strength and the airing of grievances!
Why not comment on the article about a remarkable journey rather spamming the comments with a bunch of prattle of the dumbest programs ever to draw an audience
well said...... it is inersting so many years drifting and seifeld sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kramer was awesome.
cool find
I have probably 200-300 Japanese glass balls that I have found over the years while living in Alaska. They say it can take up for 50 years for those to wash up, but I think that it just part of the myth to finding the glass balls.
Good thing it wasn't a bottle with a plea for help.
I lost my wife in that storm. Finders, keepers. That is all.
OMG that's funny!!! You started my day off with a laugh Michael. Thanks!
why do you say that's funny Truman D ????
ask your hubby bg-2892732, maybe he can explain it to you.
Or just look up Henny Youngman.
i think its awsome they should put it in a museum deicated to those crew members
There's a beginning and and end to everything but to have this happen is amazing.
Very interesting, 50,000 mile journey over 20 years....wow.
Personally I think 50,000 miles is a bit of an exaggeration.
Of course you would think the mileage is a bit of an exxaggeration. We should all listen to you rather than the opinion of an experienced oceanographer. Why must society always have to have a negative reponse to even the most positive of events?
50,000 miles!!!!!!!!! Public Schools are really letting us down I guess. It's only a few thousand miles to Ireland and England.
They said in the article that it was caught in currents and kept in a loop before it was, basically, released. It's entirely plausible that the tag circled in currents for around 50,000 miles before washing up on that shore.
It was lost 20 years ago and only recently washed up on the beach. That's good for a few circuits around the Atlantic.
Everything that has happened on a Seinfeld episode has some relevance in my own life. That show was
amazing! There's nothing it doesn't cover.
This sounds like a job for a marine biologist.
Amazing what you find at the waters edge. Everthing lost or thrown into the sea is out there. Just ask those on the eastern coast of the US sewage needle and all kind of human refuse washes up on our beaches.
Hey jack did you even read this, have you ever looked at a tide or ocean current chart's. Round and round she goes as the saying goes.
I was thinking the same thing, are they not one of the greatest natural forces? I also just figured this, if that traveled a mile an hour for 24 hours 365 days a year. Then multiply that by 20, you end up with over 170000 miles. So 50,000 is not that unbelievable especially since it was caught in a loop.
Yawn.
Did the lobster get away??
Here is the bad news, trapped is trapped, then they become bait for others looking for food who subsequently become trapped. This will occur until the trap falls apart or becomes too full to accept any more lobster.
What kind of idiot wrote this article? Who is Richard F and how is he related to the crew that was lost in the "Perfect Storm?" You mean I have to watch the video to understand what's happening? I'm more confused than anything. Even professional writers can't write anymore.
Why is the journalist an idiot? Who said anything about Richard having anything to do with that ill-fated crew? The story says he lost lobster pots in the same storm, not much confusing about that.
I agree! The title "Beachcomber Scores Find from '91 Perfect Storm" leads you to believe its something recovered from the actual crew that was lost. I found it confusing...why would it be a "score"?! Who cares! Why did he waste time even writing this article and my time to read it!
It was talking about the actual storm that was perfect, you know back in 91. The title and article state NOTHING about the lost crew.
So you wasted your time reading the article, you also wasted more time writing your post.
PY 545,
Speaking of idiots, He had nothing to do with the movie or the boat in the movie.
The perfect storm was an actual storm in 1991 in which "Richard F" lost his lobster traps.
I would guess you spend a lot of time confused.
Reading comprehension 101.
Damn fish murderers, how many innocent sword fish and lobsters died at their hands?
Lets see 50,000 miles in 20 years.....If my math is correct, that would be an average floating speed of 0.2854mph.
I just love the word flotsam. You don't see that word used enough these days.
Beachcombing enthusiasts may be interested in this story from Radio Netherlands:
A combination of favourable currents, strong north-westerly winds and nearby shipping routes means that the Dutch island of Terschelling benefits from a healthy crop of flotsam and jetsam – approximately two tons a day.
IMPOSSIBLE, It couldnt have drifted!! This is obviously because of a secret sect of mermaids, bent soley on fooling humans in believing something like this is even possible!!