World record as message in bottle found...
 

World record as message in bottle found after 98 years near Shetland

http://i.imgur.com/ygsEI.jpg

Message in a bottle The bottle has been donated to a Shetland museum

A Scottish skipper has set a new world record after finding a message in a bottle 98 years after it was released.

Andrew Leaper's discovery beat the previous record for the longest time a bottle has been adrift at sea by more than five years.

And he found the bottle while skippering the same fishing boat which had set the previous record, the Shetland-based vessel Copious.

Mr Leaper said: "It was an amazing coincidence."

The find has been confirmed as a new record by Guinness World Records.

The drift bottle - containing a postcard which promised a reward of six pence to the finder - was released in June 1914 by Captain CH Brown of the Glasgow School of Navigation.

It was in a batch of 1,890 scientific research bottles which were specially designed to sink to help map the currents of the seas around Scotland when they were returned. Only 315 of them have been found.

Mr Leaper, 43, who found the bottle east of Shetland, explained: "As we hauled in the nets I spotted the bottle neck sticking out and I quickly grabbed it before it fell back in the sea.

"It was very exciting to find the bottle and I couldn't wait to open it.

"It's like winning the lottery twice."
'Immensely proud'

He said his friend Mark Anderson, who had set the previous record in 2006 on board the same vessel, was "very unhappy that I have topped his record".

"He never stopped talking about it - and now I am the one who is immensely proud to be the finder of the world record message in a bottle."

A spokesperson for Guinness World Records said: "We are pleased to hear that the same vessel helped to break the Guinness World Record for oldest message in a bottle twice.


http://i.imgur.com/cMnio.jpg

Andrew Leaper with message in bottle Skipper Andrew Leaper said it was like winning the Lottery twice

"This is a fascinating record, both historically and scientifically.

"We hope that future expeditions will retrieve more of these treasured messages from the sea."

Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead added: "Scotland has a long and proud tradition in marine science, stretching from these pioneers of ocean research in the 19th and early 20th Century, to the cutting edge marine studies that take place in our labs today.

"The story of scientific drift bottles is a fascinating one and harks back to an area when we were only beginning to understand the complexities of the seas.

"It's amazing that nearly 98 years on bottles are still being returned to the Marine Laboratory - and in such fantastic condition.

"With many bottles still unreturned there is always the chance in the coming years that a Scottish drift bottle will once again break the record."

The bottle, and Mr Leaper's Guinness World Records certificate, have been donated to the Fetlar Interpretative Centre in Shetland.

Re: World record as message in bottle found...
 

wow 98 years. and six pence loll

Re: World record as message in bottle found...
 

When I was a child my Mother taught me to send a message in a bottle when we were at the seaside in Southern England. Many years later, when I was grown up & married, I received a reply from an old fisherman that lived in a remote Island in v North Scotland. As soon as we could we journeyed to that little island (what a long trip that was on different boats & ferries), sadly that old man had passed, I was so upset, but will always remember that.

Re: World record as message in bottle found...
 

I did find a message in a bottle when I lived on Hamilton Island.
It was a Vino Bottle, the type that hang in a straw basket.
The message was unreadable though.
I lost the bottle when I left my 2nd wife.
Actually I lost every thing when I left her.
But besides that, I did think that I was special for finding the bottle,
as it was my first and only Message in a Bottle that I have ever found. :)
I wish that I didn't find my 2nd wife though :)

Re: World record as message in bottle found...
 

Well if she took everything from you, maybe you should have put her in a big sealed bottle and pushed that out to sea :rofl:

Re: World record as message in bottle found...
 

I not that type of person, I respect one's right to nice peaceful life.
So why would I cause the person who might find her in the bottle a life of HELL. :)