We’ve all heard how important it is to eat a diet high in roughage. Likewise, “roughaging” (spending time outdoors) is essential to our mental health. Even if it’s a settee on the porch, we need it, gotta have it. I aim to be the reason you pulled your bedding out the back door last night.
Have you ever been enthralled or enamored with the thought of a message in a bottle? A missive to a long-lost love perhaps, or a bit of poetry, or even a cry for help (that ol’ if-you-were-stranded-on-a-desert-island scenario) that floats by your ankles as you cool your toes in the ocean waves?
Well, maybe you haven’t given it much thought, but I bet you are now, right?
photo by Nevit Dilmen via Wikimedia Commons
The history behind messages in bottles goes back longer than you might think. Turns out we’ve been romantic souls for a good bit of mankind’s existence: the oldest message in a bottle ever to have been recovered was found by Andrew Leaper, in August of 2012. The message inside?
An ode to a mermaid?
A sailor lost at sea?
Your great-aunt Flossie, four times removed, back from the dead?
Well, it turned out to be a little bit less poetical than that. The message inside read, “Please state where and when this card was found, and then put it in the nearest Post Office. You will be informed in reply where and when it was set adrift. Our object is to find out the direction of the deep currents of the North Sea.”
Only oceanographers’ and marine biologists’ hearts skipped a beat that day. Turns out, it was a simple science experiment: To study local ocean currents, Capt. C. Hunter Brown of the Glasgow School of Navigation set bottle number 646B adrift, along with 1,889 others, on June 10, 1914.
98 years! Well, that got them the Guinness World Record for oldest bottle recovery, but people have been setting their bottles afloat for a lot longer than that. Around 310 B.C., the Greek philosopher Theophrastus was before his time. He dropped sealed bottles in the sea to prove that the Mediterranean was formed by the inflowing Atlantic. This is actually still a common practice amongst oceanographers today.
Sometime in the 18th century, a treasure-hunting Japanese seaman shipwrecked on a South Pacific island. He carved a message into coconut wood, put it in a bottle, and set it adrift. It was found in 1935 (I’m guessing a wee bit too late to be of any help).
And did you know this bit of message in a bottle lore? Queen Elizabeth I of England appointed an “Uncorker of Ocean Bottles,” making it a capital crime for anyone else to open one. She was concerned about spies using the bottle method, evidently. What a job! I’d love to see that on a resume.
In times of war, messages in bottles (typically from sailors, some who used this method to say goodbye to loved ones) were so common and frequent that the Times of London and the New York Times actually had a column dedicated to it. It was poignantly titled Messages from the Sea.
While no messages in bottles from the Titanic have been ever been found, there was one from its fellow White Star liner, the Naronic. The doomed vessel disappeared without a trace on February 11, 1893. It wasn’t until March that a passing boat found some empty lifeboats adrift right near the very same icebergs where the Titanic herself was later to meet her end. Three years later, a message in a bottle was found. It read, Struck iceberg — sinking fast in cold ocean — Naronic — Young. That must have given the reader a chill!
And speaking of a chill, try this one on for size if you like mysteries: This message was found floating off the White Cliffs of Dover, England, in October 1896. It read:
I, Charles Pilcher, murdered Margaret Hutchinson on November 23, 1870, afterwards putting the body in a well at Norwood, which, I believe, has never been found yet, and of late I can’t sleep. I can always see her waiting for me at her pantry; that was our meeting place. To-night I have made up my mind to end my miserable existence by jumping overboard. My body will be good food for the fishes. I am not fit for anything else. So goodbye to everybody. I have no friends to weep for me. I am forsaken by all.
Too scary? Well, if it helps, while there was a man named Charles Pilcher confirmed, there were no records of one such Margaret Hutchinson. Still … my goose bumps have goose bumps.
To cheer you up, one last message in a bottle that will make you smile was one used basically as a birth announcement. Broadcasting the arrival of their baby boy, who made his appearance on a voyage, the bottle was found years later … in the stomach of an 11-foot shark.
photo by Kohn33 via Wikimedia Commons
Winnie Nielsen says: What a fascinating piece you shared here today! Beyond a mild intrigue, I have never really given messages in bottles much thought. Wow, have I missed out on a huge bit of history as explained this morning. These accounts of found messages are incredible. The one from the Naronic is just an example of a chilling piece of information that could have maybe have saved lives.
Thanks for sharing this great piece of history today!
Karlyne says: Woweeee! There are some stories waiting to be written here…
Krista says: I have never thought of sending my own message in a bottle, but I have dreamed about finding one. Since I don’t live near an ocean my chances are very slim! Maybe I’ll get lucky when we travel to England. These stories are really fascinating and I’m actually drawn to the mystery one of the murder. Did they ever check the well for a potential body? Or did Charles lie about murdering someone? This could make for a good murder mystery book!
Winnie Nielsen says: I wonder if Reindeer would find this Lichens tasty and safe. They depend on lichens for the winter months in upper Norway, near the Arctic Circle, that grow along the ground areas which they can find by pawing away the snow.
Speaking of cold….we are supposed to have temps down to the mid or low 20s tonight!! Time to throw another log on the fire and make some more tea and knit tonight!
Lisa Von Saunder says: I haven’t seen old fashioned telephone ( elec?) lines like these iniages- brings back memories .
Winnie Nielsen says: Love the colors of wheat, brown, rust and black. There is something warm and cozy about this palette for me because I live where there is an abundance of green all the time. This view is just beautiful.
Cindi says: Ah, ’tis the season of hibernation 🙂
Winnie Nielsen says: A beautiful white out on the Palouse. Night, night Palouse.
Carrie McMurran says: BREATHE TAKING❤️
Cheryle Duffy-Lehrer says: Lovely
Melva Vick says: Would love to have a framed print !! Love it
Ellen says: Would love to live there!!!
Winnie Nielsen says: Amidst the lush green background, the ice looks more like a crystal of salt. What are these greens anyway?
Happy Friday, MaryJane!
MaryJane says: Happy Friday to you, Winnie!!! Those greens happen to me a dose of natural Mother Earth, AKA weeds, not bad ones, more like ground cover. I’m sure they have names, but I don’t happen to know them.
Winnie Nielsen says: Are those the wheat fields from the fall or some other grain?
My poor Mr.Bump has had a very hard weekend with two trips to the vet. I fear the end is getting closer and I am just trying to spend as much time as possible with him on my lap or beside me outside on the porch with the fleece throw. He is a trooper and a sweetie beyond any kitty I have ever owned.
MaryJane says: Yes, wheat fields along the road to town, after harvest. That’s so sad about Mr. Bump. I’m so sorry he has to go through the pain and you have to go through the loss.
Winnie Nielsen says: Thank-you MaryJane. He has rallied a bit today for which I am happy. Yesterday, I cried all afternoon thinking it was my last day with him. As long as he seems pain free and enjoying at least 50% of his day, the vet says to just let him be as we will know when the end is here.
MaryJane says: He will be missed, leaving a big hole in your life. I’m so sorry. Hugs for your tears.
Winnie Nielsen says: This photo reminds me that it is Thanksgiving time. Fall is moving on into Winter and only the strongest of late fall leaves courageously hang on. Meanwhile, here in Florida , acorns are constantly falling and bouncing around on the back porch. Soon the Sandhill Cranes will be heard overhead as they arrive for the Winter. It is usually right near or after Thanksgiving that they can be heard. Their location calls to each other are often heard during the night as they navigate by the moon and stars. It is reassuring
And comforting to listen to snuggled in bed with the windows open.
Gerald says: Pretty, but to soon.
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
Serene and quite beautiful…i can almost hear the crunch of my boots walking along this frozen pond..oh how I miss New England !
Such a gift we receive from nature’s artwork! I could look at it for hours…if it didn’t freeze my toes.
Who knew that this little farm pond, at MJF, had such a GORGEOUS cloak in it’s Winter wardrobe? Stunning!