Earlier this week timber from the Ice Prince, which sank off the Dorset coast, washed up on Worthing beach leaving a 10-mile slick of wood across the West Sussex shore.

However, this is just the latest in a long line of weird and wonderful things to have been found along the south coast. From motorcycles to unexploded bombs, we look at what the tide has brought in over the years.

  • The Boscombe whale
  • At the turn of the century the main tourist attraction at Boscombe Pier was a giant whale which had been washed up on the beach.

The carcass of the 65-foot mammal, thought to be that of a blue whale, attracted crowds to the seafront when it was brought in by the tide in 1897.

For the next 30 years its skeleton was on display on Boscombe Pier, before being disposed of in a Southbourne scrap yard.

  • Second World War bombs
  • There are plenty of shells to be found on Bournemouth's beaches, although the kind of shell found in November 2000 at Durley Chine was one we don't want to be stumbling upon too often - it required a bomb disposal team to deal with it.

Navy divers exploded the device in the sea, treating the crowds to deafening noises and a giant spray of seawater.

In January 2007 a similar incident occurred at Studland. A thunderous explosion echoed around the bay as bomb disposal teams detonated a 500lb Second World War bomb found on Knoll beach.

  • Tropical fruit
  • Less dangerous but by no means less bizarre, 100-odd pineapples found their way onto Bournemouth beach last week. It's still unknown where the pineapples came from.
  • Message In a bottle
  • Having travelled 3,00
  • 0 miles for 500 days across the Atlantic, a message in a bottle was found washed up at Durdle Door last January by the Daily Echo's graphic designer John Nesbitt.

The note inside the sealed wine bottle revealed fisherman Pennel Ames had thrown it out to sea in Massachusetts in the USA back in August 2005, before it made its 17 month voyage across the pond on the Atlantic currents.

  • Napoli goodies
  • When the MSC Napoli ran aground off Devon last January, people were literally scrapping on the beach for some of the treats that washed ashore. BMW motorbikes were the cause of most skirmishes while an oil painting worth several thousand pounds was also washed ashore.

All we received in Bournemouth were bottles of rather salty shampoo.

  • Stingy surprise
  • Surfers in Bournemouth had to beware in October 2000 when Portugese Man o'War jellyfish were getting washed up on our shores.

As their name suggests the pink and blue jellyfish didn't come in peace, threatening to give out a painful sting to anyone unlucky enough to come in to contact with one.

  • Seal pup
  • Of course who could forget cute seal pup Narla, who was washed up on Swanage beach last March?

Far less dangerous than a Second World War bomb and no where near as problematic as a beached BMW, the poor grey seal was just 48 hours old when a walker discovered her.

She was taken to the National Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall and after five months of convalescing and fishing lessons, she was released back into the sea.