[blam]

"If it works for the Japanese glass net-floats my family used to pick up on the Oregon beaches prior to & during WWII, why wouldn't it work for these?"

Didn't the glass net-floats begin their voyage from far out to sea?

[ApplegateRanch]

I honestly don't know, but would assume (BAD word; BAD!) fairly close in to the islands.

OTOH, they could have been lost in or near the Aleutians.

Still my point was they always tend to think things only float one direction: east to west; Old World to New.