A message in a bottle sent by a primary school pupil has been found washed up in Norway—25 years after it was sent out to sea.
Joanna Buchan, 34, was just 8 years old when the bottle was dropped from a fishing boat off Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1996 as part of a school project. She was stunned to discover the old plastic Sprite bottle had been found 800 miles away at Gasvaer, Norway.
The schoolgirl’s sweet letter describes her pet dog, her school projects, and her love of collecting Blu Tack.
The bottle was found by Elena Andreassen Haga in July 2020, who tracked down Joanna on Facebook to tell her about the discovery. However, Joanna, who now lives in New South Wales, Australia, didn’t see the message until January 2022 while scrolling through her message requests.
Elena said: “We were out with a small boat just looking around the area, picking some berries, and looking for trash to take care of.
“I was very excited, you never know—is it just from another small island in the area, or what could be inside. I sent Joanna a message the same day we found the bottle and forgot about it after that holiday. I didn’t immediately understand who she was, and then the conversation lit up when I sent her the picture of the letter.”
Joanna said she was stunned when she recognized her handwriting and has since spoken to her teacher at the time, who was delighted the message was found.
Joanna said: “At first I didn’t remember the message in a bottle, but then I started to have a vague recollection of a project we did at school.
“It was a dusty memory but once I saw the letter I knew right away it was me, I recognized my handwriting, which is definitely not as neat now.
“I just died with laughter when I read it back, especially the way I ended it with ‘by the way, I hate boys.’
“I really can’t believe it survived 25 years in the North Sea. It was just a curled-up bit of paper stuffed into an old Sprite bottle, so I am so shocked it turned up on a small uninhabited island in Norway.”
Joanna was studying in Peterhead Central Primary School when she sent the letter in the bottle. The message also included details about her “rather big house,” and her love of teddy bears.
“My teacher from the time got in touch with me and was really chuffed it had been found," Joanna said. “One bottle was found early on after the bottles went out to sea but there haven’t been any others found for 25 years.
“The letter is what 8-year-old me thought was important. I talk about how I liked to collect Blu Tack and it made me remember how I used to make little animals out of it when I should have been doing my schoolwork.
“I was so shocked when I got the message it had been found and just kept thinking what [on] earth would I have written about.
“Elena’s dad actually found a message in a bottle there 60 years ago, so when she was on holiday there, she thought they’d have a look to see what they could find.”
