A message in a bottle that has been floating for 108 years at sea has finally landed on the shores of an island in Germany. The bottle was picked up by a couple while on a holiday on Amrum island and may be the oldest message in a bottle ever found.
The couple found a postcard inside instructing the finder to return it to the Marine Biological Association of the U.K. (MBA), which they did in April, the Associated Press reported.
"It was quite a stir when we opened that envelope, as you can imagine," Guy Baker, communications director at the MBA, told The Telegraph.
The bottle was one of 1,200 bottles released into the North Sea between 1904 and 1906 by George Parker Bidder, who was doing a study about deep sea currents and fish. The bottles were made to float just above the sea bed so that deeper currents would be able to carry them.
Bidder's study made interesting discoveries, one of which was that bottom feeders moved against the current. He also found that deep sea current in the North Sea followed an east to west direction, according to an MBA news release.
Baker said that many of the bottles were trawled by fishermen and that some were washed ashore, while others were never found at all. Most of them were found within months of being released at sea.
"We certainly weren't expecting to receive any more of the postcards," he said.
The message in the bottle promised a reward of one shilling to whoever finds it. The MBA made good on its promise and sent an old shilling to the couple.
The MBA is waiting for the Guinness Book of World Records to recognize the recent message in a bottle as the oldest. The current record belongs to a bottle found in 1913, which floated for 99 years and 43 days at sea.
