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Message In A Bottle

rynner2 said:
“We’re awfully flattered with all the interest our little experiment has gotten,” Hannah, from Truro, said.

'Gotten'? Sounds like she's not from Truro. :)
 
Century-old message in a bottle found in Tofino

COURTENAY, B.C. — He says it’s the neatest thing he’s every found.

A Courtenay man made the discovery of a lifetime when he came across a bottle containing a message dating all the way back to 1906.

Steve Thurber says he was walking along Schooner’s Cove in Tofino on Monday when he found the old bottle lying in the sand. It was in an area recently excavated as part of a Parks Canada invasive species restoration project.

The bottle was sealed and had a note inside.

Thurber did not want to open or break the bottle, but was able to make out through the glass that the note was dated September 29, 1906 and was signed by Earl Willard, who was sailing from San Francisco to Bellingham aboard the Steamer Rainier when he threw the bottle into the ocean, 76 hours in to the voyage.

It even lists Willard’s address in Bellingham, which is now the Railway museum.

“Maybe there was only one [bottle] that the guy sent out and I found it. It is like one in a billion chances,” says Thurber.

After researching online records, Thurber says his message in a bottle may be the oldest in the world – with the next oldest dating back to 1914.

“I guess it is a chance thing that you find something that somebody sent out into the water. I mean, even if it was a year later or ten years later, but a hundred years later is just unreal,” says Thurber.

SOURCE: http://globalnews.ca/news/834921/centur ... in-tofino/

(Video available at source URL)
 
Spooky that this thread has popped up again. Just yesterday I posted on Lone Coastguard about a book I'd just started. Called Cast Adrift, it's about crime on the high seas (and elsewhere), and another element of the story is that a woman adrift on a raft is sending out messages, not in bottles but in plastic ducks!
 
Message in a bottle sparks Durham Cathedral graves probe
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-24304142

The bottle found at Durham Cathedral is examined

Experts at Durham University examined the bottle under ultraviolet light

A faded message found in a bottle buried 100 years ago inside Durham Cathedral has sparked a search for a mystery grave.

The corked bottle was found during the relaying of flagstones near the tomb of the Venerable Bede.

Inside was a handwritten note on a 1913 theatre flyer, with the names of three men who claim to have opened a grave in the cathedral's Galilee Chapel.

Experts are now sifting through records of work done in the chapel at the time.

Blue pencil
The bottle, discovered on Tuesday, was handed to scientists at Durham University, who examined it under ultraviolet light.

Writing on the back of the flyer found inside the bottle
Faded writing was found on the back of the theatre flyer
Once opened, they found a printed flyer from the Globe Theatre - now the Gielgud Theatre in London - dated 1913.

On the reverse was a handwritten note with the names of three men who say they opened an unidentified grave on 11 May 1913.

Staff at the cathedral are now trying to identify which grave may have been disturbed and why, although they are sure the Venerable Bede's remains were not disturbed.

Durham Cathedral archaeologist Norman Emery said: "On the back of the flyer someone has written in blue pencil the names of three men and something which looks like a mason's mark.

"There is another word, which looks like 'grave' and below that 'this grave was opened on May 13, 1913.'

"It is intriguing to actually find under the floor a bottle recording something that appears to have happened to a grave in that chapel.

"But unfortunately it doesn't reveal what they did, whose grave it was or why they disturbed it or to what extent they disturbed it.

"We know of a volume that was written in the late 19th Century, which recorded the inscriptions on graves in the Galilee Chapel.

"So if we go through that we might be able to match it with graves that are there now and see if we find that there is a missing grave marker.

"That might give us a clue to whose grave this was."
 
That Durham story sounds like the setup for an M R James story.
 
It all sounds like a deliberate mystification. Why a bottle? Why a theatrical flyer? Why, above all, a Mason's mark?

Our attention is drawn to the bottle and its contents but the questions of its position under the floor, depth? in soil? in a void? are not addressed.

The spidery markings look interesting but we could do with some light on them. After a century, we might also expect the names of the men to be revealed, if light is the issue here. :idea: :?:
 
Norway message in a bottle find sparks family appeal
By Alex Kleiderman, BBC News

A Norwegian family is trying to trace a British woman who placed a message in a bottle in 1996.
The note written by the then 12-year-old Loretta Brooks from London was washed up off Rjaneset in April last year and found by a sister and brother.

Mia and Martin Rodal, now aged 10 and eight, spotted it while on a walk with their parents but their own postal response did not elicit a reply.
Despite turning to social media, they have been unable to locate Loretta.

"Finding a letter in a bottle is a kids' dream. It is like finding a secret treasure," said Mia and Martin's father Gunnar.
"The kids talked about treasure hunting by the sea, and finding a message that had drifted across the North Sea for 16 years was an exciting experience.
"But we have tried all options we could think of to find Loretta."

It is not known where the bottle containing the letter, dated 14 July 1996, started its journey but it could have potentially travelled more than 800 miles (1,300km) from the UK to Norway.

Mia and Martin, from Oslo, spotted the plastic bottle during an Easter holiday visit to their grandparents, who live on Norway's west coast.
"They were about four metres away but said they could see a message in a bottle," said Mr Rodal, a 42-year-old sales executive. "It was surrounded by slippery rocks so I took it out of the water for them."

In the brief letter, Loretta described herself as a "girl from England".
"I don't know who you are but anyway... What is your name? Send me a letter," she wrote.

Mr Rodal said: "Mia was fascinated by the thought of a 12-year-old girl that she maybe could be friends with. It took a little bit of time to understand that she would not be 12 anymore." 8)

But Loretta did not give her full address on the letter, only including what appears to be an incomplete postcode.
She wrote her address as either London E 436, or London E 43G, England, suggesting she lived in the east of the capital.

Despite the lack of details, the family decided to send a response, together with a photocopy of Loretta's letter and the original bottle.
"I added my own address and an explanation on the envelope but we didn't hear anything," said Mr Rodal.

He said: "Of course there is every chance that Loretta had moved and maybe changed her name. But we have tried to find her using Facebook, Linkedin and other online options."

More than a year later, Mr Rodal said he was inspired again to try to trace Loretta after reading a newspaper story this month about a letter dropped into the sea in Cornwall in September 1994.
That letter was found by a remote beach near the town of Hauge in Norway and traced to its sender Lucy Elliot, who is now 31, and living in Northamptonshire.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24618673

So, Loretta, where are you now?
 
Woman gets message in a bottle reply after 23 years

A woman who threw a message in a bottle into the North Sea more than 20 years ago has received a reply after it was discovered in the Netherlands.
Zoe Averianov, from Hebden Bridge, was 10 when she threw the note as she went on holiday on a ferry from Hull to Belgium on 12 September 1990.

Over Christmas she was given a letter sent from Europe which had been posted to her parents' address.
Ms Averianov said she was surprised at how far the message had travelled.

The envelope, addressed to Ms Averianov's maiden name, contained her original letter and a reply from a couple in the Netherlands.
Her letter had read: "Dear finder, my name is Zoe Lemon. Please would you write to me, I would like it a lot.
"I am 10 years old and I like ballet, playing the flute and the piano. I have a hamster called Sparkle and fish called Speckle."

The reply read: "Dear Zoe, yesterday on one of my many walks with my wife along the dikes of Oosterschelde looking among the debris thrown by the sea of embankment I found a little plastic bottle containing your message."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-25580317

The straight-line distance travelled is not great, but it took some time to be found! 8)
 
Rescued at last: Message in a bottle spent 13 years in the sea
7:00am Wednesday 15th January 2014
By Joanna Davis

A MAN who sent a message in a bottle as a young boy 13 years ago has come forward after the bottle was washed up on Chesil Beach in the recent winter storms.
Lucy Blayney, 30, of Portland, was walking along Chesil Cove on the island the morning after the storm which sparked Chiswell’s flood sirens.
She saw a plastic bottle with a message inside and discovered it was from a seven-year-old named Brandon DuQuenin of Highworth, near Swindon, in Wiltshire.

She sent a letter in reply doubting she would ever hear back and was gobsmacked when she had an email response back from Brandon’s mum telling her Brandon is now 19.

Swindon College student Brandon said: “I can’t believe the bottle has been found after all this time.
“I can’t really remember throwing the bottle in the water as it was so long ago but we think I threw it in the sea at Ilfracombe, so it has come all the way along the south coast.
“It’s an incredible thing to have happened. I’m so glad Lucy found it and wrote to us.”

Lucy said she saw the bottle when she was walking along Chesil Beach with friends to look at the big waves crashing on to the beach.
Lucy, mum to Michael, 5, and Kayne, 4, said: “I can't believe it's been in the sea so long, it's amazing.
I felt a bit silly writing a letter on coloured paper thinking I was writing to a seven-year-old boy!” :D

She added that she went to school in Ilfracombe, where the bottle is thought to have originated from.
The bottle was lying among mounds of debris washed up in the cove during the recent storms, which gained the island community national attention.

Brandon’s mum Teresa Page said she was ‘amazed’ to see a letter arrive to the home address from Portland telling her of the bottle’s discovery.
She said: “It is unbelievable that Lucy found it after so much time.
"We used to come down to Weymouth every year when Brandon was younger and always went up to Portland Bill, I wanted to move up there as I love it so much so it’s strange that the bottle was found in this area.”

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/109365 ... a/?ref=rss

That really is a remarkable journey, all around the south-west peninsula! First the north coasts of Devon and Cornwall, round Lands End, then the south coasts of Cornwall and Devon, plus about half of the Dorset coast! 8)

EDIT: I've just measured the distance from Ilfracombe to Portland - via the shortest possible route, it's about 235 NM!

So many hazards to survive, like sharp rocks or ships' propellors, and so many places to get hung up. We'll never know how many creeks and harbours it drifted into, only to escape, weeks or months later, back to the high seas.
 
Germany: Oldest message in a bottle shown to relative
By News from Elsewhere...
...media reports from around the world, found by BBC Monitoring

Perhaps the world's oldest message in a bottle, cast into the sea near Germany 101 years ago, has been presented to the sender's granddaughter, it's been reported.

Last month, fishermen in the Baltic Sea pulled an old beer bottle out of the water, along with their catch. Inside they found a postcard, dated 17 May 1913, from a man called Richard Platz asking for his message to be forwarded to his address in Berlin, the Local website reports. The letter might be the oldest message in a bottle ever found.

Researchers at the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg were eventually able to track down Angela Erdmann, 62, who lives in Berlin. Platz was her grandfather. She visited the museum last week and was able to hold the bottle.

"That was a pretty moving moment," she tells German news agency dpa. "Tears rolled down my cheeks." Erdmann says she never knew her mother's father, who reportedly died in 1946 when he was 54 years old. But she says the discovery of his message has inspired her to find out more about him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-fr ... e-26936765

More info here:

'World's oldest message in a bottle' reaches granddaughter

A fisherman pulled the beer bottle with the scribbled message out of the Baltic off the northern city of Kiel last month, Holger von Neuhoff of the International Maritime Museum in the northern port city of Hamburg told AFP.

...

Von Neuhoff said researchers were able to determine based on the address that it was 20-year-old baker's son Richard Platz who threw the bottle in the Baltic while on a hike with a nature appreciation group in 1913.

A Berlin-based genealogical researcher then located Erdmann, who never knew Platz, her mother's father who died in 1946 at the age of 54.
Von Neuhoff said a handwriting comparison with letters penned by Platz later in life confirmed that he was "without a doubt" the author.

Erdmann told local newspapers that the surprise discovery had inspired her to look through family scrapbooks to learn more about her grandfather, a Social Democrat who liked to read.

Much of the ink on the postcard has been rendered illegible with time and dampness, von Neuhoff said.
The discovery will be on display at the museum until May 1, after which experts will set to work trying to decipher the rest of the message.

The Guinness World Records had previously identified the oldest message in a bottle as dating from 1914. It spent nearly 98 years at sea before being fished from the water.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/worlds ... sCatID=351

And a nice Fortean coincidence that the bottle was found by a fisherman named Fisher! 8)
 
MAUI BIRTHDAY INVITE WASHES ASHORE IN CALIFORNIA

USA: A Central California beach outing has turned into a mystery after a bottle turned up with an invitation to a party in Hawaii — four years ago.

David Wilson of Nipomo says he and his family went to Shell Beach to fish but found a plastic bottle sealed with a cork. Inside was a tattered piece of paper dated 2010 from Maui. It appears to be a handwritten invitation to a birthday party from a little girl named Safina. Her mother’s name is Kim and their last name may be Woodstocker.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 92205.html
 
Margate bottle message found in Holland after 16 years
By DavidArcher | Posted: October 25, 2014

A DUTCH woman has found a message in a bottle written by a boy from Westbrook dating back to 1998.
The message was written by an 8 year-old Jason Brady and found in St Maartenzee, 50km from Amsterdam, Holland.

Johan Mulder who took the photo of Siena Mulder with the message in the bottle, said: “We hope that it will help in succeeding to find Jason Brady. If it is successful, then it is possible that we bring the bottle and the note to Jason.
“Here in Holland they find it also amazing that a bottle is found at the beach after more than 16 years.”

Do you know who Jason Brady is? Have you ever found a message bottle on a beach? Let us know by commenting below or emailing [email protected].

http://www.thanetgazette.co.uk/Margate- ... story.html
 
rynner2 said:
Margate bottle message found in Holland after 16 years
By DavidArcher | Posted: October 25, 2014

A DUTCH woman has found a message in a bottle written by a boy from Westbrook dating back to 1998.
The message was written by an 8 year-old Jason Brady and found in St Maartenzee, 50km from Amsterdam, Holland.
...

http://www.thanetgazette.co.uk/Margate- ... story.html

I had a problem with this story at first - Bing maps seemed to show the place as SE of Amsterdam, ie inland. There is a waterway nearby, but the bottle would have had to work its way up through locks to get there from the open sea!

So I switched to Google maps, and found a much more likely candidate on the North Sea coast, north of Amsterdam (and a few miles south of Den Helder). The sunset over open sea in the photo is also consistent.

Back to Bing maps, and there is a Sint Maarten just in from the coast up there, as well as Sint Maartensbrug and Sint Maartenslotbrug closer to the sea, but no Sint Maartenzee! Ho hum! (And there was no Sint Maarten near the first location Bing picked!) Although Sint Maartenzee isn't marked on Bing maps, searching for "Sint Maartenzee, Netherlands" does indicate the right place.

An interesting exercise! 8)
 
Romantic message in a bottle washes up at Perranuthnoe
By CGAlex | Posted: January 24, 2015

9377418-large.jpg

The message in a bottle found at Perranuthnoe - Photo: Liam Faisey

When a lonely romantic wrote a message to his future Valentine, put it in a bottle, and threw it out to sea, he perhaps never dreamed anyone would ever read it.
But one observant beachcomber did, and moved by the man’s plight, has set out to track him down.
Former Plymouth University student Liam Faisey stumbled across the dark-coloured glass bottle at Perranuthnoe, near Mount's Bay, last Saturday.
Curious as to what it contained, he unscrewed the cap and pulled out a faded, tatty looking piece of paper bearing the message: “Hi, my name is Gyles. Looking for my Valentine. If found please call this number…Look forward to hearing from you."

Mr Faisey wrote on social media site, Facebook: “ found a message in a bottle washed up today... I hope Gyles finds his Valentine because it’s not going to be me!
“It looks recent, probably hasn't travelled too far yet, hopefully it will end up somewhere far away with more Valentines than Gyles can handle.
“I threw it back in the sea and it drifted right back out. I have sent his number a message to try and find out where and when it was thrown in.”
Unfortunately for Gyles, his phone number appears to be out of order, so he may have to wait a little while longer to find love


Read more: http://www.cornishman.co.uk/Romantic-message-bottle-washes-Perranuthnoe/story-25917806-detail/story.html#ixzz3PpfBaZvv
 
The bottle was released into the sea by George Parker Bidder in the early 1900s

A message in a bottle thrown into the sea 108 years ago by British scientists has been discovered washed up on a beach in Germany.

It is believed to be the oldest message-in-a-bottle ever found.

Marianne Winkler, a retired post office worker, found the message from the past while on holiday with her husband on the North Sea island of Amrum.

Mrs Winkler found the bottle in April, but was shy of publicity and the full story has only now emerged.

For that very story, tune in next month when yer credits reset.
 
Certainly beats Doug McClure's long standing record.
 
It's remarkably well preserved, considering it's been washing about for so long.
 
Somebody please go to the Daily Telegaph website. They have a story
World's oldest message in a bottle washes up in Germany after 108 years at sea
that needs posting - but I can't even read it because I've reached my limit of 15 articles per month!

I've not tried it but this site says to get round the paywall / 15 articles per month limit, simply delete the cookies. Alternatively, if you Google the article rather than going through the Telegraph site, you can find it in Google cache.
 
I've not tried it but this site says to get round the paywall / 15 articles per month limit, simply delete the cookies. Alternatively, if you Google the article rather than going through the Telegraph site, you can find it in Google cache.
I never was sure how to delete coolies in XP, and I suspect Win10 will be worse!

But I tried a variant of the g**gle idea, and searched via DDG instead. This turned up several versions, including this one, which seems to be complete:

http://greatnewsupdate.com/uk-news/...rmany-after-108-years-at-sea-telegraph-co-uk/

I know the text is complete, because James Whitehead PM'd me a copy earlier, but greatnewsupdate has good pictures as well.

It's a great story, and the finder getting the promised shilling reward was a neat touch! :)
 
I never was sure how to delete coolies in XP, and I suspect Win10 will be worse!

I think the operating system is immaterial. You delete cookies in your browser, whether it's Explorer, Safari, Firefox or other. In Firefox it's under 'preferences' then 'privacy'.

If you can't find it just Google.
 
Romantic message in bottle washes up near Saltash
By CG_Oscar | Posted: November 08, 2015


A ROMANTIC message in a bottle which has washed up on the river banks of a castle estate in South East Cornwall has prompted a hunt for the mystery author and the object of his affection.
A message pledging undying love has been found among the reeds in the river at Pentillie Castle, near Saltash.
Ted Coryton, owner of Pentillie Castle, is now on the hunt for the romantic bachelor.

The message, addressed to Hannah, proves that romance is not dead as the author declares his love for a potential future wife.
After finding the message, Ted is now on the hunt to find the couple, with a promise to reward them with a night at the castle.
Ted said: "I found the bottle jin the reeds in the river. It must have come down with the spring tide.
"I was tidying up because we get lots of stuff that floats down the river and it can get into a right mess.

"I found the bottle and wondered what the message said. I managed to get the note out without breaking the bottle. It was a lovely written letter.
"I found it right by the bathing hut in the grounds of the castle. We did find a bottle a few years ago but it was from a young boy and the message just said 'I love my mummy and daddy'."

The message, which luckily hasn't been damaged, starts 'Dear Hannah, I promise to make time for you when you need me but allow you time and space when I can.'
It then goes on to say, 'I promise to take your dreams seriously and pursue our dreams together. I promise to be the best person I can be.'

Ted has no idea how old the note is and doesn't know if the couple are now married, or if Hannah knows the message exists but he hopes to find Mr Romeo himself.
Ted is now hoping to find the couple and add to the romantic offering of a message in a bottle by offering them a stay at the romantic castle.
"We would love to find them and offer them a night stay here anytime but we thought it would be nice if we could do it for Valentine's Day.''

If you are the star crossed lovers then Ted would love to hear from you.

http://www.cornishguardian.co.uk/Ro...near-Saltash/story-28136063-detail/story.html

Pentillie Castle is on the west bank of the Tamar, a few miles upstream from Saltash. Quite a posh looking place:
https://www.pentillie.co.uk/
(Includes a nice video.)
I wonder if the message is genuine, or a subtle piece of advertising..?! (The bottle doesn't seem to have been afloat long - no barnacles!) If it is genuine, it might actually have been thrown in by a previous guest.
 
The message, which luckily hasn't been damaged, starts 'Dear Hannah, I promise to make time for you when you need me but allow you time and space when I can.'
It then goes on to say, 'I promise to take your dreams seriously and pursue our dreams together. I promise to be the best person I can be.'

Sounds like he's well under the thumb then *runs for cover* :D
 
Sounds like he's well under the thumb then *runs for cover* :D

Well, the writer is now engaged to Hannah...

The note was from Ethan Stephens, who describes himself as a hopeless romantic, and it was sent to the love of his life Hannah Sillince.


However, the pair have never split up and are in fact engaged, she even read the letter before he hurled it into the sea at Charlestown Harbour, Cornwall, over Summer last year.


The romantic apology was sent to smooth over troubled waters after a tiff - and then chucked into the sea.


The bottle - which came from Card Factory - was discovered beside the River Tamar about 40 miles away in the grounds of Pentillie
 Castle near Saltash, Cornwall by the owner Ted Coryton.



http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/revealed-man-who-wrote-mystery-6818755
 
I'll bet he is with a sales pitch like that :p As a hopeless romantic myself I would've perhaps gone down the home-crafted route rather than nip into Card Factory. But I honestly hope they are happy.
 
Message in a bottle boy sent reply from Norwegian 'pirates'
15 December 2015 Tyne & Wear
A boy aged nine has been sent a postcard from "pirates" in Norway after they found a message in a bottle he sent from Northumberland two years ago.
Archie Aitken wrote the note, "I hope you find your treasure, when I grow up I would like to join you", and put it in a plastic a bottle in the Tyne.
Sent from more than 1,000 miles in Lista, Norway, Archie and his family now want to find the mystery pirates.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-...s_source=facebook&ns_linkname=english_regions
 
A message in a bottle … and a journey round the world
Clint Buffington has found more than 80 messages in bottles washed up on beaches and made it his mission to track down and meet some of the senders
Interview by Nione Meakin
Thursday 21 January 2016 06.30 GMT

I was 22 and on a family holiday in the Turks and Caicos Islands when it first happened. My dad and I had got a boat to an uninhabited island only for rain to start pelting down the moment we arrived. As we strode along the beach, I saw a glint of blue glass on the shoreline. I realised it was a wine bottle – and that there was something inside it. A jolt of excitement ran through me.

I’d always dreamed of finding a message in a bottle and my hands were shaking as I uncorked it. It turned out the bottle had been dropped eight months previously, in October 2006, by a couple on board a cruise from the Portuguese island of Madeira. It wasn’t a treasure map or a cry for help but to me, it was a miracle. The bottle had survived its journey across the Atlantic and I’d found it.

I emailed the senders as soon as I got back to the hotel. They were happy to know someone had got their message, but perhaps were disappointed it had been found so soon after they’d dropped it overboard. For me, however, it was a profound experience. It sparked a sort of obsession and I started spending every spare cent and every spare moment looking for more bottles. My family and I had always beach-combed for shells on vacation and when you figure out the knack of looking, you start finding more. I figured – crazy as it sounds – that I could do the same with messages in bottles.

Since that holiday, eight years ago, I’ve found more than 80 messages in bottles, mostly on the Turks and Caicos, which oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer calls a “flotsam magnet”. Bottles have been washing up on the islands since at least the 1800s; the Turks and Caicos National Museum features a large collection that belonged to its late founder. I’ve picked up bottles from senders in the US, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Switzerland. It’s not just messages either. I’ve found artwork, business cards, dollar bills … even a crumbling piece of wedding cake.

etc...

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2...ttle-journey-round-the-world-turks-and-caicos
 
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