Message in a Bottle Found in the Baltic Sea

Back in April of 2014, a German fisherman, Konrad Fischer, retrieved an old beer bottle with a message out of the Baltic Sea near the city of Kiel, Germany. Researchers at the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg began to work at identifying the author of the message, written on a postcard in 1913. 

They were able to track down the the author's granddaughter, Angela Erdmann, 62-years-old. The message on the postcard requested that the finder return it to the writer's home address in Berlin. It was dated 17 May 1913 making it 101 years old and a Guinness World Record. 

Photo:
Uwe Paesler/EPA

Most of the ink on the postcard had become illegible with time and dampness. Experts are working at trying to decipher the rest of the message.

Previously, the oldest message in a bottle recorded by the Guinness World Record website was in the sea for 97 years and 309 days. It was discovered 9.38 nautical miles from where it was thrown into the sea in Scotland. It was set adrift by Captain Brown who deployed several bottles to drift and study currents at a marine laboratory. 

In the United States a message in the bottle was found last year in 2013 by Dave Leander who was diving in the St. Clair River that was better preserved than the one found in Germany that had been hidden for 97 years. The note was from two young girls that were spending the day at the Tashmoo amusement park on Harsens Island in 1917. It was just a simple message: “Having a great time at Tashmoo”.

The two girls who put it in the water from a boat 97 years ago were Selina Pramstaller (18) and Tillie Esper (21). The diver found it partially buried in silt at the bottom of the river.