The oldest message in a bottle has been retrieved after 108 years and 38 days at sea—after it was initially released by the U.K.’s Marine Biological Association on Nov. 30, 1906, in the southern North Sea.
The bottle, which contained a postcard asking the finder to return it for a reward of one shilling, was found by Marianne Winkler in Amrum Island, Germany, on 17 April, 2015. She returned the message to the Marine Biological Association (MBA) and Guinness World Records has confirmed the record.
The bottle was set out to sea as part of the association’s research on ocean currents and the behavior of commercial fish, according to the MBA. The agency was “thrilled” with the discovery. The postcard was addressed to G.P. Bidder, a prominent figure in the development of the MBA and of marine biology in the U.K. during the first part of the 20th century.
