Messages in a Bottle I saw an article the other day about something I thought was really cool. When archaeologists were digging at a site they found a note in a bottle. This wasn’t just any note, it was from a fellow archaeologist. So far you are probably wondering why I thought this was special. I thought that way because the archaeologist who wrote the note did so 200 years ago when he was exploring the site. He wanted to record what when on at the time and that he had been there. Sometimes messages in bottles are used for scientific purposes. In 1914 a Scottish scientist wanted to study ocean currents. How would he do this? By throwing almost 2,000 bottles into the ocean that contained messages to see where they turned up. People seem to get excited when they find a message in a bottle, it is almost a mythical experience. One of the most exciting messages in a bottle and no doubt the saddest was one found which was from the Titanic. It had been found in the ocean 85 years later. One story which I found interesting was about a German fisherman who found a message in a bottle in the Baltic Sea. It had been thrown into the ocean in 1913 by a man named Richard Platz. The International Maritime Museum got involved and was able to identify a woman who was his granddaughter and guess what they did? They sent her the note. How exciting for her to read a note her grandfather wrote all those years ago. Did you ever wonder how long putting messages in bottles has been going on? That was sort of a trick question because messages have been going in bottles, before conventional bottles were used. It is said the ancient Greek philosopher Theophrastus put messages in sealed pottery jugs trying to prove the Mediterranean Sea was created by the Atlantic Ocean flowing into it. It is amazing to me how long some bottles can last after being thrown into the sea without getting dashed or leaking by the caps or corks. One bottle was found in 2012 near the Shetland Islands. It had been in the ocean for almost 100 years. A scientist was studying ocean currents and the note read, "Please state where and when this card was found, and then put it in the nearest Post Office. You will be informed in reply where and when it was set adrift. Our object is to find out the direction of the deep currents of the North Sea." I am sure the discoverer would have rather found a note stating where a treasure was hidden. Yes, sometimes messages get answered. One such time occurred when a little girl wrote a note about who she was and her pets and threw it in the water when she was on a ferry traveling from England to Belgium in 1990. In 2013. When she was 33 years old, she received a letter which stated, "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 to the embankment, I found a little plastic bottle containing your message." Did you know there are even instructions on the internet on how to put a message in a bottle and they state: That is a lot of instructions for such a simple thing to do. They do make sense however. If you are thinking about putting a message in a bottle, I guess you should follow them. Did you know there is even a website called the Official Message in a Bottle Website? In June of 1915 two girls were on a steamship named the Tashmoo. They decided to write a note using a pencil and sealed it in a bottle and threw it overboard. The bottle was found on June 16, 2013. The girls were coming from an amusement park. This bottle is particularly interesting because it was not floating, but lay on the bottom of the ocean. A diver had found it near the former dock for the ship as it lay deep into the dirt under about 30 feet of water. The topic does make me wonder how many messages in bottles we missed. Could there be truly ancient messages sealed in Amphoras at the bottom of the sea? Could there be cries for help during wars, or messages from races we didn’t know existed? By the way Amphoras were ancient large bottle like containers used for shipping and some have been found with their contents still intact on ancient wrecks. A message in a bottle was found which had been thrown into the sea supposedly by H. E. Hillbrick but maybe not. This person was listed as the contact if the bottle was found. It had been thrown into the ocean in 1936 and not found until 2012. The note said, "At sea. Would the finder of this bottle kindly forward this note, where found, date, to undermentioned address." It continued, "H. E. Hillbrick, 72, Richmond Street, Leederville, Western Australia." In 1999, a man found a message in a bottle off the coast of Essex, England. The note had been written and launched in 1914 and was written by a soldier heading to the front in World War One. He had written a note to his wife. The note said, Dear Wife, I am writing this note on this boat and dropping it into the sea just to see if it will reach you. If it does, sign this envelope on the right hand bottom corner where it says receipt. Put the date and hour of receipt and your name where it says signature and look after it well. Ta ta sweet, for the present. Your Hubby." Unfortunately, he was killed two days later. The note was signed, Private T. Hughes, Second Durham Light Infantry. Third Army Corp Expeditionary Force." Some notes can be heart wrenching, others light and inquisitive. Some are just a joke tossed into the sea to find out if they will be notified. Some bottles and notes are scientific exercises to check the flow of currents, but I bet most people would get a kick out of finding a message in a bottle.
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