A fisherman was reunited with his message in a bottle over four decades after he flung it into the waters off the coast of Scotland, the Daily Mail reported Sunday.
In June of 1973, John Souter wrote a note on a piece of scrap paper and placed it inside an old lemonade bottle before throwing it into the North Sea.
For almost 42 years the bottle traveled over 3,000 miles until it was recently found by a German national visiting Jones Beach in New York state. When the tourist, Michael Scholz, returned to his home in Cologne, he sent it another 1,000 miles to Souter's former address in Lossiemouth, Moray, along with a message of his own.
"I have found your message in a bottle," Scholz wrote to the fisherman, according to the Daily Mail. "More than 40 years was your bottle on the go. Wow. It's a long time. This is fantastic. I'm very impressed."
It may have been decades ago, but Souter, now 66, says he remembers tossing the bottled message into the sea from his father's fishing boat on June 7, 1973.
"I tore a bit of paper out of an old fishing almanac on board and wrote my name, address and the date on it before putting it inside an old Hay's lemonade bottle and throwing it into the sea," he said according to the newspaper.
Souter said his late brother-in-law who was onboard the ship also threw a bottled message into the water. His message was found and returned to him within a year.
"But I'd completely forgotten about mine," Scholz said. "It's amazing to think how far it travelled."
Souter worked as a fisherman for 30 years and is now retired. He and his wife Eileen sent Scholz a Christmas card to thank him and are planning on staying in touch.
