Oldest-known message in a bottle found on WA beach

[KMack]

Oldest-known message in a bottle found on WA beach 132 years after being tossed overboard

A Perth family has made an extraordinary historical discovery after becoming bogged on a West Australian beach.

Tonya Illman was walking across sand dunes just north of Wedge Island, 180 kilometres north of Perth, when she noticed something sticking out of the sand.

"It just looked like a lovely old bottle, so I picked it up thinking it might look good in my bookcase," she said.

But Mrs Illman realised she had likely uncovered something far more special when out fell a damp, rolled up piece of paper tied with string.



The message was dated June 12, 1886, and said it had been thrown overboard from the German sailing barque Paula, 950km from the WA coast.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-0...-beach/9518632

[Kamal900]

What a time to be alive, eh?

[KMack]

What a time to be alive, eh?

That is a neat find. According to the article German ship captains tossed thousands of bottles, with the note location of the ship, overboard.
And where they ended up is how they measured ocean currents. There probably more out there somewhere.