Cole Harbour Message in a Bottle Sender Found!

Woo hoo! Thaaaaaanks everyone! Thanks to all you beautiful readers and residents of Nova Scotia, particularly around Cole Harbour, Dartmouth, Halifax, and Ketch Harbour, we have found the author of this message in a bottle!!!

Nova Scotia message in a bottle from 1985.

As you might recall from my first post about this message, I thought that name of the person who wrote this note was “Merla Dellans” or something along those lines.

Well, starting as soon as my post went live on Thursday, Feb. 15th, folks who had attended Cole Harbour District High School during the mid 1980s began writing in with what they thought the name might say, but there was one clear winner. I received dozens of emails suggesting this name, and it was immediately clear that it was right. In fact, Bill Spears, who taught the class that sent out these messages, wrote to me and confirmed it. I even heard straight from this person’s wife.

So who is the person behind the note? Merle Sellars!

Sadly, my dad and I haven’t gotten a chance to speak with Merle yet, but we sure hope to soon! He works long hours away and we just haven’t gotten to get in touch yet.

Well, there isn’t much else to tell at the moment! I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me solve this mystery–that’s the power of the internet and social media!

So thanks to everyone who wrote to me to suggest Merle’s name, to explain how the Ocean Drift Project worked, and to help spread a little happiness by sharing this story. Thanks also to Merle’s wife for sharing a current handwriting sample from him so I could confirm that he sent the note, and thanks also to Bill Spears, the Geography teacher who started this whole crazy adventure back in 1985.

Cheers to all! Rock on Cole Harbour District High School! Rock on Halifax! Rock on Nova Scotia! Y’all have been wonderful and helpful and I’m just sorry I couldn’t write back to everyone who helped me solve this mystery!

***Of course, there are more mysteries to solve–so click here if you want to “like” my Facebook page in order to keep up on my stories and help solve future mysteries! You never know when YOU could be the one to solve a message in a bottle mystery! Click here to learn more about messages in bottles, and you can always contact me with questions, ideas, or stories.