August 31, 2012 12:23 pm
The Oldest Message in a Bottle Ever Found Is 98 Years Old
Photo: funtik.cat
Andrew Leaper, a Scottish skipper, has discovered the world’s oldest message in a bottle. He found the bottle while on the same fishing vessel where another mate had set the previous record, for a bottle that had been floating in the ocean for 92 years and 229 days. Now, Leaper has broken his buddy’s Guinness World Record: his discovery turned out to be a 98-year old message in a bottle.
Leaper told the BBC, “It was an amazing coincidence. It’s like winning the lottery twice.”
Within the bottle, a postcard written in June 1914 by Captain CH Brown of the Glasgow School of Navigation promised the finder a reward of 6 pence. It had been part of a scientific experiment in which 1,890 such bottles were released, in a bid to chart currents around Scotland.
Leaper said his friend Mark Anderson, who set the previous record in 2006, was “very unhappy that I have topped his record.” Anderson “never stopped talking about it – and now I am the one who is immensely proud to be the finder of the world record message in a bottle.”
More from Smithsonian.com:
Message in a Bottle
The Wonders that Wash Ashore
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Floating in the water for 98 years? Or recently released from being embedded in Arctic Ice? Just a thought, seeing as how the Arctic Ice just this week melted to a new historic low.
Comment by Adam — August 31, 2012 @ 1:59 pm
I think that’s 4.83£ (or $7.65), commensurate with the -.30% historic inflation rate from around 1914.
Is anybody else humming The Police’s “Message in a Bottle” right now?
Comment by Sharleen Shanley — August 31, 2012 @ 2:25 pm
So did he get his 6 pence?
Comment by Travis — August 31, 2012 @ 5:10 pm
6 pence, none the richer…
Comment by Brent — September 5, 2012 @ 10:07 am
Am I the only one who wonders what the message was?
Comment by Mia — September 14, 2012 @ 1:14 pm
nvm I found it
Comment by Mia — September 14, 2012 @ 1:15 pm