Short: Things that bob in the water

long show. So we get a cover cover two really interesting topics and then categorized, and we're gonna categorize from the two of them as things that go bob in the water, things that go bob bob in the water. First of all, all, I'm gonna mangle the pronunciations of this. It's the tip of tier blocks, and I'm sure that's not the way it's supposed to be. It starts with a T and a jay. I'm just gonna tipotier blocks. Yeah,

have no idea on this. Yeah, these rubber these weird rubber oblong rectangular blocks with rounded corners, and they have cast into them. They had the the word and I'm going to spell it out T G I P E T I R, which turns maybe the T is silent. Maybe it's Jupiter. Maybe it's Jupiter or maybe it's Jitpiter. I don't know. Maybe it's Jupiter. Maybe it's maybe they're

like the tiles Jupiter. You never know, Like in Welsh, for example, you know and Welsh, if you have two l's following each other, it changes to the first L changes to sound. So like there's a town called Clan didn't know, Clon didn't know, which is a coastal town. It's starts with two L so it's end. Didn't know. It's like, languages are weird. I don't even try, don't How do you keep all of that? Yeah, I've been, I've been the crime didn't know. It's a it's an

interesting town. So but back to our thing. So, these things have been washing up on the shore is of northern Europe now for a while now. Lots of people have been collecting them, and a lot of people were wondering what exactly these things were, where they come from. And this is actually not so much of a mystery. It turns out that these things are these things are actually produced in it was a Pakistan, No, Indonesia, that's right, Yeah, Indonesia.

They were produced in Indonesia a long time ago though apparently, Yeah, there's a there's a plantation. These things are this this place chip. The name that's in there is the side of a nineteenth century rubber plantation in Indonesia, which is where these things were come from. And apparently they're also

not rubber. They made it something called gutta percha Gutta perca, which is a substance that comes from a tree as native to Malaysia, and it's pre day's plastic and it was used for all kinds of stuff for for installation, waterproof coating and stuff like that, Teddy Bear's noses, bookbindings, hot air balloons, and it was a very useful thing. So lots of it was produced in Indonesia, loss of

it was shipped all over the world. And you would ship it in bricks, right, yeah, I mean it would it packs nice and compactly in a in a nice little brick form. Right. And when were they When were they being produced, I'm sure well into the twentieth century, but it was in the nineteenth century. Well yeah, but I mean, but I'm sure they were still producing them in the twentieth century because they were still shipping them around. Yeah, because they were using them for in submarines and stuff

like that, so that would make sense. Yeah, there's there's if you go out there and do a little good one and you'll find all kinds of pictures of these things washed up all over the place. People there are people that collect them. But this is not quite a mystery. They think that's it's not totally clear, but it's believed that this mystery has been solved. Somebody named Tracy Williams in Britain was finding these things and she uh did a little bit of research on and started got a

little bit obsessed about the whole thing. And yeah, we've all been there. Yeah, and I've never done that. Yeah yeah, And and she and and got her name out there and started reading submission from people who found these slabs in England, Shetland, Norway, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Germany and on and on and on Europe. Yeah, mostly Europe, actually as far as out there as Spain. Yeah, but never not like America. I don't think so. I've never seen

any you haven't, you know, I haven't seen anything. So some people actually theorize that these things had carried and been carried in the Titanic, and that perhaps some of these things actually were from the Titanic, but it's believed actually that no, it wasn't the Titanic. This person Williams was informed by somebody that there was a Japanese cargo ship called the miya Okay hanging like spelled mariu like

the cat. This was sunk by the Germans in World War One, that was carrying a whole lot of these gutter perket balls. Yeah. The British government believes that this ship is probably the source of the blocks that are washing up now. And I think the reason for that is is that somebody has actually been trying to salvage that ship and so doing so you disturbed the wreck and all this stuff comes floating out because they are seeing. Yeah, they're going to open up a hatch and they all

come rushing out. That would make a lot of sense. And why they're showing up like now, show up now, yeah, exactly, because it's been down there a long time. Um. Yeah, they would have been washing up a lot sooner. Yeah, So they just sat at the bottom of the sea for a long time. So they were on the Miyazaki Maru. Miyazaki Maru, which was a Japanese carrying Indonesia. That's cool. No, it's kind of interesting. I mean, I really hope that

some of them will float this far. Yeah, i'd like one if you have one and you listen to our show and you want to send us one as a gift. The best thing about one of those ones would make an awesome coaster because because no matter how drunk you are, you're not going to miss your coaster. That's true. Well that was that was That was a listener's suggestion, wasn't that? I was suggested by Linda. That's Linda with a y. Thanks that They're great, great little story. Sorry we couldn't

stretch it out into a full episode. You guys have any other theories that you'd like to expand the alien But you know, I mean, as I think we've we all know things that float in the ocean, they float a long way. Um. What was I know we were talking about this before we started is what is the name of those toys that I told you about? Yeah?

There they were bath toys, rubber duckies. Cargo ship dropped a couple of cargo containers overboard, and evidently one of the concidentally which it was, it was you know, that's just kind of appalling. How many containers go overboard. Imagine imagine the damage that would do your your boat if you're just cruising along and you hit one of those

random things floating in the ocean. Well, I think these things sank because honously it was ruptured because it led out all of its cargo, which was all of these bath toys that were rubber duckies and alligators and stuff. And for the next fifteen years, people would randomly on the beach find him. And it wasn't just in the Atlantic. These things were making their way or the Pacific. It started the Pacific and they were making their way over

to the Atlantic and floating everywhere things like that. Like, I'm amazed at these blocks haven't gone farther, to be honest, that's the one thing that I was. I was surprised is they're only found on that one coast of the European coast. Yeah, well, you never know. I mean, that's that's the first place they' hitting. It might be at a whole the whole bunches of them that are all over the ocean that still haven't washed up on shore.

They headed off to other parts. You know, they're heading off to the east coast of the US god knows where. So yeah, keeping I keep an eye peeld on your beach. Yeah, you're friendly, local neighborhood, and then send them to us. Yeah, well you had more than one of these. Yeah, yes, this is not going to be that tiny of a shorty we got. We got another mystery to talk about.

This happened. This mystery had happened. In nineteen sixty seven, the U. S. Coast Guards found a crate that had a wooden crate had seven inflated yellow balloons inside of it, floating off the coast of Florida. Well it is I feel like it gets even more like an eighties song. Yeah, an eighties song. Yeah, that's the crate was marked in English, made in the USSR, and it was addressed to the Institute of Mineral Resources of Cuba. So they were sending

in balloons. Why are they shipping seven balloons to Cuba? That's a that's an excellent question. Yeah. There, it was not a really huge box, but yeah, it's a little bit of a mystery. They also found another one about a hundred thirty five miles to the south of where they found this one off of Marathon Key where marathon key. I assume that's still in Florida. I think I think there's a marathon Florida. So it's just one of the keys, one of the Florida keys. The Bahamas also have keys

all of that that island clump all around there. They if it's not if it's of a certain site, they just call it or whatever key's It doesn't have to be associated with a specific land mask or anything like that. Lots of cruise ships own keys ahead and throw that out there. I want to own my own key. I'm gonna call it skeleton key or master key or something

like that. Yeah, Okay, back to our mystery. The crates, according to the Coastguard spokesman, had barnacles on them, and so that indicated to them to their scientific analysis that they've been in the water for a couple of months. There's not too many theories about this, like, for example, were they being shipped from Russia, these balloons from Russia to Cuba, or were these crates that perhaps the Russians

had sent to an English speaking country. They just shipped whatever exports to send some place like England, and then somebody in England had wanted to ship something to Cuba, and so they grabbed these crates and ship their stuff to Cuba. In the crates right, could be at the Russians shipping balloons to Cuba, could be at somebody in some intermediary shipping. And that's about as much as we

know there is. The balloons were went like the size of a cantalope or a soccer ball or something like that. They weren't very big, but they were fully inflated, and they weren't they weren't a balloon like you would get at the party store. They were more of a heavy rubber yellow balloon, more of like what lifecraft would be made out of. Yeah, exactly, heavy duty kind of stuff. Once there that somebody put out is that they were used as packing materials and they couldn't find these little

styrofoam peanuts and seven that they have styropham puts. That's that's one there that somebody has put out is that they were used as packing material And so you'd pop out a balloon, you'd pull out the optic that you're receiving, and then close the box up and then and then set it back on the dock, and sooner or later somebody throws it into the drink. Yeah. I don't really buy that. Mostly, I just don't understand why something from

USSR to Cuba would be written in English. But okay, sure, yeah, well that's why I was That's why I was saying, it's like, that doesn't make any sense. But but again, if it was shipped from somewhere other than the uss ARE, if it was shipped to an English speaking country, then it would make sense to having so haven't made in the U s s A. You know what else would make sense is drunk teenagers pulling a prank. It could be that too. I mean, that's about the time, right,

but like that would be fund something that would be hilarious. Yeah, just dump them overboard. Yeah, I feel like the USSR is sending something to I guess what it is, hot air. Yeah. I think that if they actually made it all the way to Cuba and then just got thrown off the pier, I don't think they would have made it to flow Orda. I think I would have been stuck somewhere in that region.

They wouldn't have gone that far that it would be pretty tough for them to drift that far north well, and and they would because of the Gulf Stream, they would they would drift east, and so they wouldn't they wouldn't head north. I mean, so I don't. I don't think they went straight from Cuba. So that's kind of

a poser. But it could be that it could be that somehow they wound up in the hands of somebody who have a boat or maybe they maybe they were just handy look containers and said maybe a Cuban freighter or some sort of Cuban government ship was using them and some of them got washed overboard. And I don't know, but I have I have another another idea though, as to wear what they were and why they were balloons

in them. So are you ready from the theory? Okay, in the water between Cuba and Florida, what do you find? A lot of water, a lot of that, but you find something else. You find Cuban refugees trying to escape

the communist tellhold they're living in. And a lot of these people have actually have actually are so desperate that they'll actually lashed together a little crappy makeshift raft and and and take off and try to cross the straight over to Florida and to get to get away from Cuba, and there's lots of documented instances of people doing it and making it to some people not making it. Oh

that it would have been a makeshift craft. Yeah. So so you get all these crates and if, if at all possible you want to just on the on the possibility of leaks and stuff like that, get a little lecture buoyancy and cramp some balloons in there. So that way, if your little box, if you want to create springs a leak, well the balloons will keep you from second fully inflated and full of air. Yeah yeah, actually, yeah, yeah,

I think that should be considered a possibility. Unfortunately, it's a sad possibility because it probably means those guys and probably means the raft broke up and they all drowned. So that kind of sucks. Yeah. Well, well that's it. You guys have any other theories? Yeah? Yeah, Now, actually, what I think happened, let me I take that back. I think what happened is they made it to Florida. They jumped off their raft and and and rent up and kiss the sand and their raft just floating away

to mention broke up. So happy that's that is possible, really, so yeah, uh So anybody out there, if you're a Cuban refugee living in the US, and that's how you got and that's how you got here, and those are year balloons, we want to hear from you. Send us an email. Anyway. That's the end of our very very

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