The world’s oldest known message in a bottle has washed up at a West Australian beach, nearly 132 years after it was thrown into the Indian Ocean.


Perth couple Kym and Tonya Illman found the bottle just north of Wedge Island in January, when her son’s car had become bogged in the sand.

The 19th century Dutch Gin bottle washed up at the feet of Mrs Illman and she took it back to their home and opened the bottle.

Read also: Colleagues work extra 3,300 hours for staff with ill son

Mrs Illman said the note was damp, rolled tightly and wrapped in a string.
She dried it out by putting it in the oven, before noticing faint German handwriting on it.

Her husband spent three days researching the note and discovered it was from a German ship ‘Paula’ as part of an experiment to find more efficient shipping routes.

The message is dated June 12, 1886. The previous world record for the oldest message in a bottle was 108 years ago.

The discovery was brought to the WA Maritime Museum for further research, which confirm it wasn’t a hoax.

The last bottle and note to be found was on 7 January, 1934 in Denmark.

The bottle will be on display as the WA Maritime Museum for the next two years.

Odd stories
https://tellodds.com/worlds-oldest-message-bottle-found/