Ghost Ship Modeling Project
Could Become Environmental Symbol

An interesting ship scratch build subject is making headlines as it drifts off the coast of British Vancouver following its lonely trip across the Pacific after the Japanese Tsunami last year.

Initially dubbed a "Ghost Ship", the crew-less vessel has taken just a year to make it across the ocean and much more debris is expected to follow.

What makes this interesting from a scale modeler's perspective is the unknowns. What has been the ship's history? is it considered legal salvage? (it's not every day one finds a 150-foot vessel afloat on its own.) where is its home port? Is this the first item in a "wall of debris" drifting towards the US west coast?

CNN was the first to report it is a squid fishing boat from Japan and used the hull numbers to track down the owner who confirmed there had been no one on board.

There is very little in the way of detail regarding this particular ghost ship and one can only wonder if there are more enroute.

But this particular ship would make a striking model with its overburden of rust and the resulting seas damage when left unchecked for a year. But bear in mind, what makes it important today is it is a hunk of debris.

In fact, a lot of attention today is being given to the debris afloat in the Pacific Ocean, well over 200,000,000 tons. That's not all of Japanese origin.

We've got these "plastic islands", some as big as Texas floating out there and they exceed 150,000,000 tons

The battleship, USS Missouri tips the scales at just over 45,000,000 by comparison.

A diorama which plops a Japanese fishing boat in the middle of a massive field of debris (finally, a use for the "don't fits" in your junk drawer) will not only make an interesting political statement, it will provide a recycling reminder.

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