Some scientists are learning about ocean currents by studying the journey of bleached and battered bath toys.

The rubber ducks, frogs and turtles are thought to be washing ashore along the coast of New England, 11 years after falling off a container ship in the Pacific Ocean during a storm.

The 29,000 toys fell overboard en route from China to Seattle, floating through the Bering Strait and around Iceland before washing up on North America shores.

Oceanographers are interested in what the toys can tell them about the way surface currents behave.

Retired oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer of Seattle has been following the toys since they went overboard. He and his non-profit group of volunteers called Beachcombers track the movement of water in the North Pacific using a computer model.

Ebbesmeyer said he's amazed at how quickly the toys made the journey. According to an analysis of the model, the wind blew the sail-like toys at twice the rate that water moves in the North Pacific, he said.

Curt Ebbesmeyer and friends

There is a reward for the first rubber duck to be turned in from the coast of the U.S. No one has claimed it.

"It's like the old wild west 'Most Wanted' poster," said Ebbesmeyer. "It says the most-wanted duck and it's a $100 reward US."

The poster describes a rubber duck that fits in the palm of a hand, with the words "the first years" written across the chest. The once yellow ducks have now faded to white.

The toys are also a reminder of the 10,000 containers which fall off cargo ships each year, he said. Ocean trash includes everything from running shoes to hazardous materials.