History of a Message in a Bottle

History of a Message in a Bottle,				two years ago. 'I'm writing a letter back.'
Believe it or not, Messages in bottles have been				Broderick this week received a letter from Anna
used through out history, and here are some				Isabel Chaves Sousa, 16, who lives on the island
documented cases ...				of Santa Maria.
Queen Elizaeth I of England in the 16th Century				He was a sixth-grade student of teacher Lynda
used bottles to carry intelligence reports.				Stofen at a local elementary school when he and
"Elizabeth I once received an intelligence report by				his two-dozen classmates launched their message
this means and was so disconcerted to find it had				bottles with the help of a fisherman, who tossed
been opened by a boatman at Dover that she				them into the ocean. The girl wrote back that her
appointed an official Uncorker of Bottles and				brother, a fisherman, picked up the quart bottle at
decreed that no unauthorized person might open				sea. Wayne's letter was the second from the
a message-carrying bottle, on pain of death".				school to net an answer. In November 1982,
"The strangest case was perhaps that of				former sixth grader Frank Marston heard from a
Chunosuke Matsuyama, a Japanese seaman who				Spanish merchant navy captain of the Canary
was wrecked with 44 shipmates in 1784. Shortly				Islands off North Africa.
before he and his companions died of starvation				Miss Stofan said sea message projects are good
on a Pacific coral reef, Matsuyama carved a brief				writing, ocean and geography exercises as
account of their tragedy on a piece of wood,				students speculate where the messages will drift.
sealed it in a bottle, and then threw it into the sea.				And Wayne said he also made a new friend. Anna
It was washed up 150 years later in 1935 at the				asked him to be a pen pal".
very seaside village where Matsuyama had been				In the Lodi, California News Sentinel Newspaper
born".				appeared the following UPI article on Friday,
"When he was postmaster general for the				August 21, 1987, entitled,
American colonies, Benjamin Franklin realized that,				"Writer of 31 year old note in bottle found"
because their whaler captains knew the currents				"Genoa, Wisconsin-
much better than their English counterparts,				Joel Gruhn was only 8 years old in 1956 when he
American ships were crossing the Atlantic much				scrawled a note, plugged it in a ketchup bottle and
quicker than the British mail packets. He therefore				had his father toss it into the Mississippi River. This
compiled a chart using both the whalers' lore and				week Gruhn discovered a Genoa man found the
information he obtained by dropping bottles into				bottle and the note last October and had been
the Gulf Stream and asking the finders to return				looking for him ever since. Duane Froh, 40, pulled
them. The information he recorded is little				the bottle from the Mississippi October 31, 175
changed today".				miles south of Minneapolis, where it had been
"In 1875 the crew of the Canadian bark, Lennie,				tossed in. He showed it to his wife, Diane, and
mutinied and murdered the officers. A steward				they tried to find its sender. 'My age is 8 years
who was spared because he could navigate				old and one-half. I weigh 65 pounds. I am 4 feet
steered them to the French coast, telling them it				and 5 inches high. The writer of this note is Joe ... .
was Spain, and surreptitiously dropped several				.' the note said, becoming undecipherable at the
bottles over the side revealing the whole story.				end. It was dated April 2, 1956, and had a Mound,
The French authorities found one, boarded the				Minnesota address".
ship, and arrested the surprised mutineers".				In the Santa Rosa, California, Press Democrat
"Fragile as it is, a well-sealed bottle is one of the				Newspaper appeared the following Associated
world's most seaworthy objects. It will bob safely				Press (AP) article in June of 1984, entitled,
through hurricanes that can sink great ships. And				"Child's bottled message reaches England"
for most practical purposes glass lasts forever. In				"Providence, Rhode Island-
1954, 18 bottles were salvaged from a ship sunk				Stuffing a message in a bottle and tossing it into
250 years before off the English coast. The liquor				the ocean with the hope of someone ever finding
in them was unrecognizable, but the bottles were				it is the stuff of children's stories- a dream that
good as new".				seldom comes true. But James Westerman is a
"It is impossible to predict the direction a bottle will				believer. Westerman thought his handicapped
take. Of two bottles dropped together off the				students would find it fun to put messages in
Brazilian coast, one drifted east for 130 days and				bottles found on the beach and toss them into
was found on a beach in Africa; the other floated				Narragansett Bay. Last week, more than three
northwest for 190 days, reaching Nicaragua".				years after Westerman's students last played the
"Speed is also bound to vary according to wind				message-in-the-bottle game, a letter arrived for
and current. A bottle might be completely				Bernice Graser, the principal of Westerman's
becalmed or, if caught up by the Gulf Stream at				Pleasant View School. It was from 10 year old
its raciest, might travel along at four knots and				Jayne Ayre of Barnstaple, England, who wrote
cover as many as 100 miles a day".				that she found the bottle January 29, while taking
"The longest bottle voyage ever is thought to				a Sunday stroll on a beach in southwest England
have been made by a bottle known as the Flying				with her father. The note inside fell apart when
Dutchman. It was launched by a German scientific				they pulled it out, but the managed to paste it
expedition in 1929 in the southern Indian Ocean.				together, she said. The sender's name, Nomp
Inside was a message, which could be read				Travis, was clearly legible, as was the return
without breaking the bottle, asking the finder to				address: Pleasant View School, Province, R.I.
report where he found it and throw it back into				I found your name on it and was thrilled to see it
the sea.				had come all the way from America,' the girl
It apparently caught an eastgoing current, which				wrote to Nomp. She also enclosed a clipping from
carried it to the southern tip of South America.				the North Devon Advertiser about her find".
There it was found, reported, and thrown back				In the Santa Rosa, California, Press Democrat
again several times. Eventually, it moved out into				Newspaper appeared the following AP article on
the Atlantic, then again into the Indian Ocean,				April 27, 1985, entitled,
passing roughly the spot where it had been				"Refugees Find Freedom, Note in a bottle changes
dropped, and was cast ashore on the west coast				lives"
of Australia in 1935. It had covered 16,000 miles in				"Los Angeles-
2,447 days (a little over 6 1/2 years)- a				A Vietnamese refugee family arrived in the United
respectable average of more than six nautical				States on Friday to a tearful welcome from an
miles a day".				American couple whose bottled message floated
"In 1953 a bottle was found in Tasmania 37 years				9,000 miles to the shores of Thailand and
after it had been dropped overboard by two				answered their prayers for freedom.
Australian soldiers on their way to France in a				'Welcome to the United States of America,'
troopship. The mother of one of the soldiers				Dorothy Peckham told the family as reporters
recognized the handwriting of her son who had				and photographers swamped the refugees at Los
been killed in action in 1918".				Angeles International Airport after an 18-hour
Historical note: Australia fought for her mother				flight from Singapore. Hoa Van Nguyen, 31, a
country, England, against Germany on the				former South Vietnamese soldier, told reporters
battlefields of France and Turkey during World				through an interpreter that he's 'the most lucky
War I. Remarkably, Tasmania is a State in the				man in the world.' He said he doesn't know why
country of Australia.				what he called 'a sixth sense' prompted him to
"A message found on a beach in Maine in 1944				pick up the bottle carrying the message from
read: 'Our ship is sinking. SOS didn't do any good.				John Henry Peckham and his wife. Nguyen, 31,
Think it's the end. Maybe this message will get to				flew in Friday afternoon with his wife, Joang Kim,
the U.S. some day.' It was identified as coming				27, who clung to his arm and said nothing, their 16
from the USS Beatty, a destroyer torpedoed				month old son and Nguyen's 17 year old brother,
with heavy loss of life somewhere off Gibraltar				Cuong Van.
on November 6, 1943".				Peckham took the sleeping baby, Hoang Gia Thay
Historical note: the bottle from the sunken				Nguyen, and grinned widely despite tears that
American warship floated to the shores of that				streamed down his face. Nguyen then gave the
country during World War II. The destroyer was				Peckhams a present, a picture he had crafted
probably sunk by a German submarine in the				while in a refugee camp in Thailand.
Atlantic Ocean off the Southwest coast of Spain.				The family was whisked out of the airport by
"...both the British and U.S. Navies have used				officials from the Catholic Welfare Bureau, who
bottles extensively to compile intricate current				settled the refugees in an Echo Park apartment
charts. And the movements of oil slicks, mines,				rented for them by the Peckhams".
and even fish have been predicted with help of				This information collected from Reader's Digest
seaborne bottles".				Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, printed by the
"Paolina and Ake Viking were married in Sicily in				Reader's Digest Association, Inc., Pleasantville, New
the autumn of 1958, thanks to a far-traveling				York in 1976. To order a copy contact Reader's
bottle. Two years earlier Ake, a bored young				Digest call 800-723-1241 to obtain a back issue.
Swedish sailor on a ship far out at sea, had				As you can see there are many uses for a
dropped a bottle overboard with a message				message in a bottle through out history, even
asking any pretty girl who found it to write.				today new uses for this age old communication
Paolina's father, a Sicilian fisherman, picked it up				device have gone commercial.
and passed it to his daughter for a joke.				A Message in a Bottle as a gift, souvenir,
Continuing the joke, Paolina sent off a note to the				alternative to Flowers.
young sailor. The correspondence quickly grew				With the invention of the world wide web one
warmer. Ake visited Sicily, and the marriage soon				creative entrepreneur brought the world its first
followed their first meeting".				Message in a bottle gift. DreamWeaver Studios,
In the Lodi, California News Sentinel Newspaper				brought the first MIB(message in a bottle) to the
appeared the following United Press International				world via the world wide web. This message in a
(UPI) article on Friday, September 6, 1985,				bottle is used for every and any occasion, from
entitled,				birthday gifts, to Christmas gifts, anniversaries,
"Message in a bottle found, in nine years"				To say I am sorry, to say I love you. lets you
"Berlin-				design your own or choose from dozens different
A message in a bottle dropped into the Baltic Sea				selections for all occasions and feelings. Since
was found nine years later in San Francisco, the				DreamWeaver Studios creation many variations
East Berlin daily newspaper Tribune said Thursday.				of the message in a bottle gift product have
The bottle, with numbered message '4,764,' was				sprung up all over the world.
one of 13,000 'posted' into the sea at Oresund				DreamWeaver Studios paved the way for a
between Denmark and Sweden on August 7,				message in a bottle to be used as wedding and
1976, by the East German Institute for Marine				party invitations. Imagine announcing your
Studies in Warnemuende, the paper said".				destination wedding with a message in a bottle.
In the Lodi, California News Sentinel Newspaper				Tired of plain boring invitations, send your guests
appeared the following UPI article on Friday,				a message in a bottle.
July13, 1984, entitled,				A message in a bottle is not limited to wedding,
"Note in bottle answered after almost two years"				but party invitations, promotional products,
"South Portland, Maine-				giveaways at trade shows, numerous uses can
Nearly two years ago a South Portland boy				be found at DreamWeaver Studios website
wrote a note and stuck it in a bottle that was				A message in a bottle has come along way from
tossed into the Atlantic. He forgot about it but				the time of Queen Elizabeth, now they are gifts
this week he got an answer from the Azores-				for any occasion and the recipient will never
more than 2,500 miles away.'I didn't think the				forget the person who sends them a message in
bottle would make it,' said Wayne Broderick,Jr.,13,				a bottle.
who wrote the note as part of a class project

DAN

History of a Message in a Bottle