Saturday, May 24, 2008

Message in a Bottle

I found an old wine bottle in the harbor today with a note inside. I had a tough time fishing it out of the harbor, but finally got it out with a marind debris crate and some rope. I opened it up at Capt. Brooks' tonight, a lot of people were curious so they showed up too. It said it was part of a scientific ocean current study and it gives an address to send it to. My guess is that it's probably at least 15 years old, so I'll do a little internet research to see if the address is still good. I wish they would have put a date on it. At least they protected the note inside a ziplock bag in the bottle because the cork leaked. The bag had deteriorated and the note was still wet, but at least it was still readable. A lot of times, the notes are unreadable from leaky corks, I hear.

This is where I found the bottle.

Here's the soggy note. I'll let you know if I find anything out.

7 comments:

Shammickite said...

WOW Pete, a real message in a bottle, that's the stuff adventure stories are made of! I'm assuming it's a glass bottle, not plastic... yes of course it's glass, they didn't really have plastic bottles 15 years ago. Amazing that it didn't break!

Shammickite said...

but if it's 15 years old, wouldn't it have barnacles and other marine life on the bottle.... and did they have ziplok bags back then?
I googled McCawley Oceanic, didn't find anything.
Ooooh I love a mystery!

Sara said...

that is so cool. not quite like the sappy chick flick Message in a Bottle, but close enough.

RunnerBecky said...

That's so neat, Pete! I hope the address is still good. I found one on Eastern Island while we were there, but it wasn't readable. :( Good luck!

Pete Leary said...

The bottle did have some stuff growing on it. Ziplocks were around then and it fell apart when I opened the bottle, so it was fairly old. I still haven't found out anything though.

Anonymous said...

Ex- How old are you? Yes I believe we had ziplok bags way back in 1993. And I think we also had plastic bottles way back then also. Of course my memory may not be as good as when I was 30.
BG

Signal20leo said...

I stumbled on your site and being a former military investigator I thought I would help you out.

I searched Fairhaven, MA which is about 45 minutes northwest of my home on Cape Cod. I only found records of the note writer's Father at first, but with a little digging found this marriage announcement of his son. Joseph T. McCawley Jr. a merchant marine residing in Middleboro, MA approximately 45 minutes east of Fairhaven. Let me know if you get in touch with him. I am 95% sure he is your guy.
Signal20Leo@yahoo.com

McCawley-Bergeron
MAUI, Hawaii -- Diane E. (Buckley) Bergeron and Joseph T. McCawley were married July 9 at Kula Botanical Gardens by the Rev. Michael Beachwood.
The bride, daughter of John V. Buckley Sr. of Halifax and the late June E. Buckley, is a legal secretary.
The bridegroom, son of Ruth U. McCawley of Middleboro and the late Joseph T. McCawley, is a career merchant mariner.
The couple visited Maui and Kaui, Hawaii, on their honeymoon. They live in Middleboro.