The next time you find yourself complaining about slow mail delivery, consider this: A message in a bottle sent more than 100 years ago has finally reached its intended destination, washing ashore on the beaches of the German island of Amrum, according to published reports.
The bottle was thrown into the North Sea sometime between 1904 and 1906, said the Associated Press (AP), and was only found by a couple back in April. It was one of about 1,000 such bottles that were released into the sea by researcher George Parker Bidder, the wire service added.
The bottles were weighed down to float just above the sea bed, and were used as part of a study into the movement of sea currents. Inside the bottle was a postcard asking the person or persons who found the bottle to return it to the Marine Biological Association of the UK (MBA), offering a one shilling reward in exchange for the message and information about how it was found.
Bottle could set a new Guinness world record
According to the Press Trust of India, that one-shilling reward was given to retired postal worker Marianne Winkler, who discovered it during her holiday to the island. Guy Baker, a spokesman at the MBA, explained that most of the bottles were recovered and returned decades ago and that the organization was “very excited” about the newfound bottle.
“We certainly weren’t expecting to receive any more of the postcards,” he told the AP. Baker said that the group was currently having the Guinness Book of Records investigate to see if it officially qualifies as the oldest message in a bottle ever found. The current record holder was released in 1914 as part of a scientific experiment. It was found 99 years, 43 days later.
An older message-in-a-bottle was discovered in Germany last year, Metro said, but has not been officially recognized as of yet. However, the bottle found by Winkler, if verified, would be older than either this bottle or the current record older, the UK-based website explained.
“It was quite a stir when we opened that envelope, as you can imagine,” said Baker. “It was a time when they were inventing ways to investigate what currents and fish did. The association still does similar research today, but we have access to technology they didn’t have, such as electronic tags. Many of the bottles were found by fishermen trawling with deep sea nets.”
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Feature Image: One of Bidder’s bottles used to elucidate ocean currents. (Credit: MBA archive)
Story Image: George Parker Bidder. (Credit: MBA archive)
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