FOR these rubber duckies the world’s oceans have been their epic bathtub after they were washed overboard and released into the high sea 25 years ago.

Now the amazing seafaring odyssey of 28,000 bobbing plastic toys has been mapped after they spilled out of a container which had been swept off the deck of a merchant ship.

3 This new map illustrates how the ducks went on to rule the high seas

Scientists have been tracking the toys' movements for information about the great ocean currents, which affect the planet's overall climate.

It all began back in somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean a consignment of First Years bath toys, including bright yellow rubber ducks, were spilled from the Greek owned merchant ship Evergreen Ever Laurel during a storm.

Since then the errant bathtub favourites have travelled 17,000 miles, floating over the site where the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg, landing in Hawaii and even spending years frozen in an Arctic ice pack.

In 2003 and 2007 they even arrived on the shores of the UK as well as South Africa and Australia.

3 A rubber duck like the flotilla that is currently floating on the world's oceans Credit: Image via Alexander Kaiser, pooliestudios.com

3 The merchant ship Evergreen Ever Laurel from which had been carrying the ducks Credit: Alamy

Devoted followers have dubbed the rubber ducks as “friendly floatees”.

The toys which also included floating frog have become collectors' items. At one stage, The First Years was offering a reward of £63 each for their return.

But the journey also reveals a much more concerning state-of-affairs.

Blue Planet II reveals how 28,000 RUBBER DUCKS lost at sea 25 years ago are still washing ashore

In Sir David Attenborough’s latest Blue Planet series on BBC One the story is told to lay bare how plastic can travel about the globe's seas and kill marine life.

The phenomenon perfectly illustrates how marine pollution can spread around the world and killing our sea life

About four containers a day are washed overboard and eventually spill their contents into our seas.

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