1886 Message In a Bottle Found

From the March 11, 2018, Chicago Tribune  "1886 message in a bottle found in Australia" by Theresa Vargas, Washington Post.

Before computers and FPS, ocean currents were tracked by little slips of paper in bottles, the proverbial "Message in a Bottle."

The world's oldest "Message in a Bottle" was found recently on a beach in Australia, 132 years after it was tossed into the Indian Ocean as part of an experiment on ocean shift patterns.  Experts call it "an exceedingly rare find."

The bottle is less than 9 inches long and 3 inches wide and was found in January north of Perth by Tonya Illman.  Was it a hoax, though?

Experts found two significant details on the message inside the bottle.  The date June 12, 1886, and the name of the ship, "Paula."  This links the bottle to German scientist George von Neumayer who was running the experiment. from 1964 to 1933 which involved throwing thousands of bottles overboard with pre-printed messages inside.

Only 662 message slips were returned with information as to where it was found.  The last one before this one was in January 1934.

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