Shocking discoveries on Cornwall beach including £2.5m worth of drugs

When you walk the beaches of Cornwall, you never know what you might find. There is plenty of wildlife, beautiful scenery and some weird and wonderful objects that would have traveled thousands of miles to get here.

This was recently proven by 13-year-old teenager Liutaurad Cemolonskas, who discovered a rare “Holy Grail” Lego piece on Marazion Beach, which was lost at sea 27 years ago. The plastic octopus Lego was one of millions lost after a freak wave hit 62 containers on the Tokio Express in 1997 – but one of only 4,200 of its kind.

And if this and other previous incidents in Devon and Cornwall are anything to go by, there could be some truly strange discoveries waiting to be discovered. Here we look back at some of the unusual items that have washed up along the coast in recent decades, from packages of cocaine to lengths of timber.

READ MORE: Breathtaking views from Britain’s most scenic railway

READ MORE: Cornwall has 62 of the best pubs in the UK according to CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2023

The Lego disaster of 1997

Almost 30 years ago, nearly five million Lego pieces fell into the sea when a huge wave hit the cargo ship Tokio Express off Land’s End, washing 62 containers overboard. Many of the pieces were marine themed – and still wash today.

Beachcomber Tracey Williams roamed the beaches looking for Lego. After her story was shared, many people contacted her reporting sightings. Most of those who got in touch said they had found Legos around Cornwall.

“From what I’ve been told, Perranporth is a hot spot for brooms and the Lizard seems to be a hot spot for octopuses,” she said. There were also reports of pieces washing up in Wales, Ireland, Australia and America.

Merchandise included:

• Toy Sets – Divers, Aquazone, Aquanauts, Police, FrightKnights, WildWest, RoboForce TimeCruisers, Outback, Pirates

• Spear Guns (Red and Yellow) – 13,000 items

• Black Octopus – 4,200

• Yellow Salvage – 26,600

• Flippers Diver (in pairs: black, blue, red) – 418,000

• Dragons (Black and Green) – 33,941

• Brown rigging net for ships – 26,400

• Daisy flowers (in fours – white, red, yellow) – 353,264

• Scuba and breathing apparatus (gray) – 97,500

• A total of 4,756,940 Lego pieces lost overboard in one container

• It is estimated that 3,178,807 could be light enough to float

Source: Beachcombers’ Alert, vol 2. No 2 1997

I need lumber

In February 2002, the Maltese-registered Kodima grounded off the coast of Cornwall. The ship shed thousands of tons of timber, much of which washed up in Whitsand Bay. Hundreds of miners invaded the beach to retrieve the timber, ignoring warnings to leave it alone.

A group of students from the University of Plymouth have created a three-storey beach house which has been made entirely of timber from Kodima. It was later demolished after Caradon District Council said it did not have planning permission and could pose a danger.

The Mulheim disaster

The Mulheim ran aground between Land’s End and Sennen in February 2003. It was carrying 2,200 tonnes of shredded plastic, much of which escaped into the sea along with the diesel.

RMS Mulheim ran aground near Land’s End following engine failure en route from Cork to Lubeck in Germany. Mulheim’s fate was sealed the moment she was buried by the rocks on this treacherous stretch of coast.

Holes were drilled in the bottom and sides of the 1,864-ton vessel below the tide line, effectively precluding any attempt to float.

Motorcycles and wine

After a huge storm hit in January 2007, a ship carrying 2,300 containers was badly damaged. Motorcycles, pet food, wine barrels and anti-wrinkle cream were among the various items that washed up on Branscombe Beach in Devon when the MSC Napoli ran aground.

When the ship issued an emergency call after suffering “catastrophic damage” to its hull, all 26 crew members were brought to safety in a rescue operation coordinated by the UK coastguard.

It lost a total of 114 containers, of which 80 were washed ashore, they held items such as explosives, fertilizers, herbicides, car engines, chocolate, Polish Bibles, vodka, shampoo, wine, coffee, perfume, dog biscuits and frozen ducks.

Word spread quickly and thousands of visitors decided to go to the village of Branscombe to see the vessel up close. However, after the containers started washing ashore, people from all over the UK arrived to remove the cargo.

Cocaine discovered in Cove

The packages that arrived on the Cornish coast contained a total of 110lb of cocaine, with a street value of £2.5m. A package washed up on the beach at Bude on 7 February 2008 and contained bagged packages.

Another was found on a beach near Carleon Cove on the Lizard Peninsula the next day – between 60 and 70 miles from the first. Devon and Cornwall Police said forensic analysis confirmed the packages contained cocaine.

Jim Saulino and Marijke de Boer discovered the package in West Cornwall. The couple were surveying the area for evidence of dolphins and porpoises killed in fishing nets as part of a research project when they came across the lot.

“We were scrambling over huge boulders and rocks when we came across this white package that was very nicely wrapped,” Mr. Saulino said at the time. It was covered with some kind of netting, then cling film and then a rubbery material like washing mitts.

“It was layer after layer. I kept peeling through the layers until I could see what was inside. It was definitely cocaine. Marijke went back up to the Kuggar to use the phone box to call the police because I didn’t have a cell phone. The police came and took it. They said it was the second package that was washed recently. Mr. Saulino estimated that the package weighed about 50 kg.

Space debris in Scilly

In December 2015, debris from the SpaceX Falcon-9 was discovered by the Coast Guard while patrolling the Isles of Scilly, about five months after the unmanned rocket exploded as it left Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The large piece of metal traveled over 4,000 miles across the Atlantic. The 10 x 4 piece was discovered by the coast guard off Tresco.

At the time, local fisherman Pete Hicks, who helped bring the piece ashore, tweeted a photo and said: “Towed and beached a piece of the flotilla earlier. “Thoughts could be aircraft parts, I didn’t imagine the space race.”

Speaking at the time, Martin Leslie, coastal area commander for the Coastguard, said: “The markings show an American flag. “It appears to be an American rocket and most likely appears to be an unmanned SpaceX Falcon-9.

“We are grateful to everyone who helped in its recovery – it was a great example of the community working together.” The SpaceX Falcon-9 is believed to have been destroyed by a rocket rod breaking loose.

The piece of metal was holding together a high-pressure helium bottle in the liquid oxygen tank, which could have caused the bottle to shoot to the top of the tank at high speed.

The rocket was on a mission to rendezvous with the International Space Station, but its explosion cost NASA $110 million in lost and destroyed equipment and supplies.

Detergent bottles

In 2016, thousands of bright pink plastic detergent bottles, believed to have contained a well-known brand of stain remover, washed up along the Cornish coast. They started arriving at Poldhu Cove on the Lizard, but were found on several beaches. National Trust volunteers tried to recover them amid fears they posed a risk to wildlife.

The bottles were sealed, although some were reported to have leaked. The bottles were believed to have come from a container that had gone overboard from a ship in stormy weather.

Speaking at the time, Matt Slater, marine awareness officer at Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said the environmental impact would be felt for a long time. “Malasses are very harmful to the marine environment,” he said. “A plastic bottle could last 4,000 years.”