Latest news with #messageInABottle
BBC News
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Moray schoolgirl's message in a bottle gets reply from Norway 31 years later
A Scottish schoolgirl's message in a bottle has finally received a reply more than 30 years later - after being discovered in Beresford, from Portknockie in Moray, sent the message in 1994 when she was 12 as part of a school washed up across the North Sea where it was found by a volunteer cleaning up a Norwegian island - who then dispatched a postcard to the delighted sender to let her told BBC Scotland News she could not believe her original letter was in such good condition after three decades. Her handwritten letter had been sent in an empty bottle of Moray Cup, a fizzy drink produced in the north east of Scotland. It said: "Dear finder. My name is Alaina Stephen and I am 12 years of age. I come from Portknockie and I am doing a project on water so I decided to send a message in a bottle."My teacher's husband took them and dropped them in the middle of the ocean."When you find this message, please write back with your name, hobbies, where you found the message, when, and if you could, a little information about your area. Yours sincerely, Alaina Stephen. PS I come from Scotland." Now, 31 years on, Alaina has received a postcard from Pia Brodtmann, telling her the good news, with pictures of the said: "My name is Pia and I am from Germany. Today I found your message in a bottle on Lisshelløya, a tiny island around Vega in Norway."I am here for beach cleaning as a volunteer for four months and today we cleaned Lisshelløya. On the front of the postcard you can see our workboat Nemo and our sailboat Fonn, where we live. You can also see the area around Vega. I wonder when and where your teacher's husband threw your bottle in the ocean?"It added: "PS I am 27 years old and I like rock climbing and sailing a lot!" Alaina, now 42, said she as stunned when she picked up the post and noticed the postcard addressed to herself."I'm at the same address," she said."I did live in Buckie, and another house in Portknockie for a while, but moved back in with my parents."I couldn't believe it, as I had sent it when I was 12 years old, 31 years ago." Alaina was able to find Pia via social media, and messaged her asking to send a photo of her letter."I was shocked when she did, I couldn't believe how legible it was," she said."I can't remember actually writing the message, but I do remember it was a Moray Cup bottle, and that my teacher's husband had dropped it into the sea when he was a fisherman."According to my message, I had done it as part of a project on water. It was when I was in P7."She added: "Pia and I have been keeping in touch and hopefully we will continue to do so."
Fox News
17-06-2025
- General
- Fox News
Message in bottle from 1983 washes up on remote island with historical contents intact
A peculiar message in a bottle recently surfaced on the shores of a remote Canadian island. The discovery was announced by the Sable Island National Park Reserve in a May 23 Facebook post. The small island is located off the waters of Nova Scotia. In the post, park officials said the bottle was discovered by Mark Doucette, an archaeology technician from Potlotek First Nation, a community of Mi'kmaq Native Americans. "The message is very faded, but we could make out that the bottle was sent to sea Jan. 14, 1983, from a resupply ship operating near Sable Island," the post noted. Speaking to Fox News Digital, Parks Canada representative Jennifer Nicholson said that, after opening the bottle, the first thing officials noticed was its strong smell. "Well, first off, you could still smell the gin!" she recalled. "Even 40 years later, that hadn't faded." The gin dissolved some of the ink on the letter, but it was still faintly visible. Nicholson said that the paper was still damp from being in the bottle for four decades. "As it dried, you could make out more of the message – and you could see the impressions left behind by the pen," she said. The letter had scant details about the ship it was sent from, which required some research from park officials. "It was a little hard to make out the ship's name at first. You could tell it ended with 'Sea Hunter,'" Nicholson said. "We did a little bit of digging, and one of the archaeologists found that there used to be a resupply ship called the Wimpey Sea Hunter. It was a British supply ship built in Devon in 1982." She added, "There were crew names on the back as well. We haven't been able to track any of the crew down after this time. But if they're out there, we'd love to hear from them!" The bottle also contained a two-dollar bill from 1974, which featured a portrait of young Queen Elizabeth. "We've had appliances like TVs and fridges wash up on the beach – fridges especially." "The Bank of Canada replaced the two-dollar bill with the [two-dollar coin] in 1996, and some of our Sable team had never seen a two-dollar bill before," Nicholson noted. It's not unheard of for similar bottles to wash up on Canadian shores. Nicholson said that one message in a bottle is usually found in Nova Scotia per year. "A lot of them are from the 1980s," she said. "The oldest one my colleagues found was set to sea in the 1930s from a boat that was sailing from the U.K. to North America … that was really neat. " Other than that, Nicholson said park officials have seen "almost everything" wash up on shores. "We've had appliances like TVs and fridges wash up on the beach – fridges especially, because they have a lot of insulation, so they float," she said. "We've had things with Russian labels washing up. We found a little pill container that was from France. And a lot of the typical waste you would imagine – plastic water bottles, other single-use plastic items." For now, the bottle has been sent to the Parks Canada archives for further study and preservation. Bottles containing decades-old messages are often found across the world. In 2023, a French man stumbled across one that was sent by a Massachusetts fifth grader in 1997. In 2021, a 108-year-old message in a bottle was found at a Ford construction site in Michigan.
Asharq Al-Awsat
12-06-2025
- General
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Mystery of North Sea Message in a Bottle Solved After 47 Years
The mystery of a North Sea message in a bottle found on a Swedish island after 47 years has been solved by BBC Scotland News. Friends Ellinor Rosen Eriksson and Asa Nilsson found the bottle on Sweden's west coast back in February. Inside was a damp note that was almost unreadable. They laid it out in the sun to dry, and were eventually able to make out some text. The full date appeared to be: '14.9.78.' The two friends posted about it on social media in the hope of learning more. It has now been established the letter referred to fisherman James Addison Runcie who had been on board the fishing boat Loraley, but who died in 1995. It was written by his then crewmate Gavin Geddes - who was amazed to be told it had been found 47 years after they dropped it overboard. Runcie's sister Sandra Taylor, 83, happened to be visiting Cullen where she is originally from, and was stunned to be told the story behind the find in Sweden. 'It's absolutely amazing,' she said. Asked what she thought her older brother would have made of it all, she said: 'He would have been in stitches, he would find it hard to believe.' She added: 'He would have poured out a dram and said 'cheers'.' Ellinor said they were 'completely amazed' to find a 'real message in a bottle,' and hoped to discover the story behind it. 'Where I live, we call this activity vraga - it means going out to find something lost or hidden, and to uncover its story. And that's exactly what we've done here, with your amazing help,' she said. The two finders in Sweden said it was 'fantastic' the mystery of the source had been solved, and Jim's sister described the story unfolding as 'amazing.'
BBC News
10-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Solved after 47 years: The mystery of the North Sea message in a bottle
The mystery of a North Sea message in a bottle found on a Swedish island after 47 years has been solved by BBC Scotland Ellinor Rosen Eriksson and Asa Nilsson found the washed-up bottle earlier this damp and faded letter was hard to read, but they were able to make out the name Addison Runcie, the year 1978, and an address in Cullen, has now been established the letter referred to fisherman James Addison Runcie who had been on board the fishing boat Loraley, but who died in 1995. It was written by his then crewmate Gavin Geddes - who was amazed to be told it had been found 47 years after they dropped it overboard. The two finders in Sweden said it was "fantastic" the mystery of the source had been solved, and Jim's sister described the story unfolding as "amazing". Ellinor, 32, and Asa, 55, found the bottle on Sweden's west coast back in February."I was out exploring the Vaderoarna islands with my best friend Asa," Ellinor said."We both love searching for beach finds, and that day we took the boat out to Torso, the northernmost island in the archipelago."Deep in the bushes on the island, Asa spotted something unusual - a thick glass bottle sticking out of the ground." Inside was a damp note that was almost laid it out in the sun to dry, and were eventually able to make out some full date appeared to be: "14.9.78".They could also make out the name and address "Addison Runcie, Seatown, Cullen, Banffshire, Scotland".Ellinor said they were "completely amazed" to find a "real message in a bottle", and hoped to discover the story behind posted about it on social media in the hope of learning closer inspection, the letters "es" could also be made out before Addison Runcie, as well as the number 115 before the Scotland News then established that James Addison Runcie had lived at that Seatown address in Cullen at the time - the "es" was the end of James - and started to investigate more. Jane Worby, 78, who now lives at the house, described it as "nice to have a little bit of history" when told of the story."It does catch the imagination," she said of the message in a bottle. "It almost makes me want to do it myself."Jim Runcie - who was known locally as Peem - died in 1995 at the age of story took an unexpected twist when we spoke to Gavin Geddes, one of Jim's former crewmates on the Buckie-registered Loraley, which sailed out of Peterhead. "As soon as I saw the letter I thought that is definitely my writing," Gavin, 69, who lives a few miles from Cullen in Rathven, said he remembered writing it, and even compared his own hand-writing to confirm had put a "couple of bottles" overboard, and had wanted one to be from Jim Runcie."We put one away for Jim - and now that's the only one found in 47 years," he said."Now at least we got one reply." Mr Runcie's sister Sandra Taylor, 83, happened to be visiting Cullen where she is originally from, and was stunned to be told the story behind the find in Sweden."It's absolutely amazing," she said. "To be bobbing around in the sea for 40-odd years and then just all of a sudden go onto the shore, it's unbelievable."The name and address means it was definitely him."All my family were in fishing, and it was never going to be anything but the sea for Jim. He was a fisherman all his life." Asked what she thought her older brother would have made of it all, she said: "He would have been in stitches, he would find it hard to believe."He would have poured out a dram and said 'cheers'." Back in Sweden, Ellinor and Asa described finding out where the message came from as meaning the world to them."This is such a cosy and fantastic story," Ellinor said."Finding a message in a bottle from someone far away, on a freezing February day, far out on a remote island with your best friend, that's truly magical." She explained that if they had known how it would turn out, they would have tried to save the bottle itself too."I myself come from a fishing family and absolutely love the sea, spending time on the islands and searching for treasures," she said."Where I live, we call this activity vraga - it means going out to find something lost or hidden, and to uncover its story. And that's exactly what we've done here, with your amazing help."Ellinor added: "Asa and I would absolutely love to come to Cullen one day - to talk about the bottle and the story, and experience your beautiful coast and community."We are truly thrilled about this."
CBC
03-06-2025
- General
- CBC
Q&A: Message in a bottle from 1983 found on Sable Island
Social Sharing A Parks Canada archaeology technician on Sable Island recently found a message in a bottle that contained a note and an old Canadian $2 bill. It happened in mid-May on the sliver of land about 300 kilometres southeast of Halifax. Parks Canada says a message in a bottle is usually found once a year on the island — give or take. Sarah Medill is an operations co-ordinator for Parks Canada on Sable Island. She spoke to CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Tell us the story of this message in the bottle. In mid-May, Mark Doucette — an archaeologist out here working on another project — found this bottle in the area where they were working, and he brought it back to the parks team and we brought it back to the station. And so we tend to make a little bit of a deal when we find things like this on the island and invited everybody who was here. So I think there was about eight people on the island at the time to come for the opening and the unveiling. You make it a bit of a thing? We do make it a bit of a thing. It's always kind of an exciting find because you never know what's going to be inside or what the message is going to be. Let's start from the outside. Tell us about the bottle and what kind of shape was it in when Mark found it? You could actually still recognize it as a Gordon's gin bottle. And so it still had sort of the embossment of the name on it but like a lot of the bottles on Sable Island — they don't break because there's no rocks on the island or around the island. They come up intact, but they do get quite sandblasted. It was a little hard to see into the bottle, but you could definitely tell that there was something inside it. And they had screwed the cap back on and then sealed it up with electrical tape. And even that was still relatively intact, so the condition was pretty good. What was in it? When we opened it up, there was definitely a rolled-up note and in the rolled-up note was also a Canadian $2 bill … Actually, the first thing you noticed when you opened it, you could actually still smell the gin. Really? Yeah, it still had a very alcoholic aroma to it. And unfortunately the gin also made some of the writing on the letter that they wrote a little hard to make out. And so some of the letters were missing, but we were able to eventually make out that one side said "We're from the crew of the Wimpy Seahunter supply ship" and then it provided a date. So they set it ashore sometime near Sable Island on Jan. 14, 1983. "Congratulations" was written on [the note] as well … on getting your two dollars. Where did they set it adrift? Well, it would have been somewhere around Sable Island, it implies anyway. So a supply ship around that time, there was offshore oil and gas platforms on the island. So this was probably a resupply ship for those or a support ship. So that bottle has been around for 42 years with that message in it? Exactly. I wonder how long it's been on the island, because the sand fills in and comes off, right? Yeah, it does. And who knows, it could have come ashore fairly recently or bobbed around for a little while shortly after they released it. The sand will sometimes bury things and then other storms will expose them again. The area where the bottle was found was on the north side of the island. So when you think of Sable Island, you kind of imagine it as a big smile and a crescent shape. And so the north side of the island is on the inside of that crescent and it sort of almost acts as a basket for catching things out of the ocean. So it's sort of mixed in with a lot of other stuff. So do you know anything about that? What did you say the name of the vessel was? So it was a little hard to make out originally because the W was missing and what turned out to be a P was sort of written looking like an R. So initially we were like looking at the IM ray Seahunter. But then once the note dried again, it was still a bit damp with the leftover gin. You could see the impressions for the W and some searching online, we did see that there was a boat called the Wimpy Seahunter that was in the area in the '80s, early '80s. You said there have been other finds like this? We find a message in a bottle about once a year on the island, give or take. And in the last probably 10 years, we've had one that was set adrift as early as in the 1930s. And that was from a boat that was travelling from somewhere in the U.K. to North America. And the person who wrote the message sounded like they were moving from Scotland to somewhere in North America at the time. It was written on the ship's sort of information sheet, so that was fairly interesting too. And it was the vessel, I believe it was called the Caledonia. And so that was only found probably six or seven years ago and but you know, sent to sea in the 1930s. What's another one? We had a group of maybe Grade 6 students in Massachusetts that set a bottle adrift with just little hellos and messages, and we think that was maybe a school project just to see if something was returned. What are you gonna do with your $2 Canadian bill? As far as I know, I think the archaeologists took the note in the bottle and the $2 bill back with them. It'll probably go to archives for a bit anyway.
