In the summer of 1958 I was on Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean, 2,078 miles off of Japan. I was there as a 'weatherman' to assess several particular weather phenomenon for the USAF for six months. While there my job consisted of about 2 hours a day of 'work' and 22 hours to myself. Yes it was a cushy job...LOL I spent a lot of time beach combing, fishing, sailing, diving, playing cards and just plain loafing. Loved that job! The pay sucked, but the benefits were awesome.
The beach combing turned up Japanese fishing floats, about one glass ball a day. These blown glass floats were used to keep the top of a fishing net at the surface of the ocean. Today they are not commonly used anymore, but they were in regular use in 1958 when I collected these. The earliest ones were used in 1842 and were made in Norway, not in Japan (first use in Japan was 1910) as many would suppose because of the extensive use by the Japanese fishing industry. They are, today, replaced mainly by aluminum, plastic and Styrofoam.
