Devon fisherman catches Lego shark lost at sea almost 30 years ago

A fisherman from Devon has caught a Lego shark which was lost at sea off a cargo ship almost three decades ago.

Richard West, a fisherman who lives in Plymouth , discovered the plastic toy on the top of his fishing nets 20 miles south of Penzance in Cornwall on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old got in touch with the project Lego Lost at Sea – with the founder Tracey Williams saying the piece is the first ever reported shark from almost 52,000 Lego sharks which vanished off the Tokio Express cargo ship on 13 February 1997.

“Sharky trawled up 20 miles south of Penzance on fishing vessel FY848 Defiant,” Mr West told the scheme in a message sent late on Tuesday night.

“I’m so happy about it - it’s way better than any fish I’ve caught all week. Credits to vessel skipper Andrew Shaw, who thinks I am insane for how excited I got about finding it.”

A freak wave in a powerful gale swept 62 shipping containers into the sea 20 miles off Land’s End – with one bearing 4,756,940 pieces of Lego. Many of the pieces of lego were sea-themed.

“I could tell straight away what it was because I had Lego sharks in the pirate ship set when I was little. I loved them. It’s been 25 years since I’ve seen that face,” he told the media outlet.

Credits to vessel skipper Andrew Shaw, who thinks I am insane for how excited I got about finding it.

Mr West was on the Defiant FY848 – a boat which travels between Plymouth, Brixham and Newlyn, fishing for sole, monkfish and dory when he found the lego shark.

In a post about the catch, Lego Lost at Sea said: “Oh my goodness – our very first Lego shark from the Great Lego Spill of 1997 has just been hauled up from the deep!

“Caught in a fisherman’s net and somewhat battered and bruised after 27 years at the bottom of the ocean, this Lego shark is one of 51,800 lost overboard from the Tokio Express and the only one we’ve ever seen.”

The post explained these lego sharks were included in several Lego sets from 1997, including Deep Sea Bounty, Shark Cage Cove, and Shark Attack.