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