Message in a Bottle

It’s an official Guinness Book of World Records message in a bottle found in the ocean.  Fisherman Andrew Leaper found a bottle in the seas around Scotland that was set adrift in 1914. A world record was confirmed for the item being the oldest message in  bottle ever recovered.  It seems the bottle was released in 1914 as part of a government experiment to map undercurrents around Scotland.

The government released 1,890 bottles to determine the undercurrents, but to date, only 315 have been recovered.  Inside each bottle is a postcard asking the finder to record details of the discovery and the promise of a reward of a sixpence for their troubles. Unfortunately for Leaper, the coin no longer exists. The bottle was labeled as 'bottle 646B' and was released on June 10, 1914. The postcard asked the finder to return it to the 'Director of the Fishery Board for Scotland,' however the original log is now held by Marine Scotland Science in Aberdeen and is still updated ever time a discovery is made.

Oddly, Leaper’s friend Mark Anderson, who found a bottle in 2006, was aboard the same vessel where the latest discovery was recovered. Anderson wouldn’t stop talking about his discovery and now Leaper is the proud finder of the new world-record message in a bottle. With so many of bottles still at large, it may not be long before we have another world-record message in a bottle holder.