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| Plundered Planks Wash Ashore |
 When the Ice Prince sank after being damaged in a storm on January 15, 2008, all 20 crew members had been safely removed from the ship despite high seas and gale force winds. The ship had listed to 40 degrees in on that morning and slipped to 45 by the afternoon. Its timber cargo began to fall from the ship.
Two thousand two hundred tons of sawn Swedish red and white timber were on the deck of the ship and slipped into the ocean and a major shipping lane. Another 3,300 tons were believed to be in the cargo hold. A "wood slick" began to form.
By the January 21, the West Sussex, England coast had become lined with the warped and damaged wood. Bundled wood and free floating planks are piled up several feet deep on the beach. Locals have taken some of the wood but, under the Merchant Shipping Act of 1995, anyone removing the cargo from the beach faces a fine of $5,000.
The clean-up of the timber is expected to take weeks or even months. "The ship's owners have acted responsibly in organizing a clear-up operation, and the owners of the cargo are trying to organize a purchase of the washed-up wood," Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman Fred Caygill told the Daily Mail. While the wood is too warped to be used for structural purposes, it can still be turned into paper or sawdust.
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