When Geoff Flood set off for a walk on the beach in New Zealand, he wasn't expecting anything unusual, but what he found sounds like the ending to a love story. When Flood noticed a bottle lying on the beach, he took a double take and soon discovered that the bottle and its contents had been afloat for 76 years, reports Discovery News on Jan 21.
After examining it he noticed that the message in the bottle "looked old" and thought maybe it had been around the world a few times.
After retrieving the message, by wrapping it in wire and gently tugging it from the bottle, Flood discovered the note was written on March 17, but he still didn't know how long it had been in the water.
According to Discovery News the note said: “At sea. Would the finder of this bottle kindly forward this note, where found, date, to under mentioned address.” with the following address written at the bottom: “H. E. Hillbrick, 72, Richmond Street, Leederville, Western Australia.”
After tracking down the residence, Flood learned that H. E. Hillbrock had died in 1940, but according to his grandson that he was aboard the SS Strathnaver, a British Royal Mail Ship in 1936.
His grandson theorizes that Herbert tossed the bottle overboard during that trip.
It may not be the oldest message in a bottle to turn up, but for grandson Peter, whose grandfather died before he was born, it serves as his only tie to his grandfather.
According to Guinness World Records, the oldest message in a bottle was afloat for 97 years and 309 days and was part of a scientific experiment to chart water currents.
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