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adventure, beachcomb, beachcomber, beachcombing, Caribbean, Clint Buffington, Coke, Coke bottle, Help, How to get a message out of a bottle, Inspiration, Interview, Lexington, Message, message in a bottle, NBC, Reward, sender, travel
Thanks again to Devon Patton from LEX18 News who interviewed me yesterday. We spent 2 hours talking and deciphering messages, but of course air time is limited and this post provides a bit more detail about what we found.
On May 30th, 2011, I found what appears to be a very, very old message in a Coke bottle. Here I am with the bottle on the beach. The T-Shirt I’m wearing is from Carol and Ed Meyers, another couple whose message in a bottle I found:
I was really excited about this MIAB because it seemed so old, and I couldn’t wait to get it out and see the date. That’s why I chose to break it with Devon during our interview, which I will try to post video of here soon.
From previous experiences with taking old messages out of glass bottles with aluminum screw caps, I knew that once I compromised the environment created inside the sealed bottle, this message would dry out quickly and become brittle. So, when I busted the bottle, I grabbed the message, ran it inside, and flattened it out. A strange thing happens with messages like this: they become easier to read as they dry out. So, we waited.
Words slowly became legible: “Return…419 ocean…resieve…reward…dollars…owner of Beachcomer…”
Yes, I am an English teacher and yes, I noticed the spelling errors, but who cares?! I think they give the message character!
We waited some more. And then a little bit more. We could read, “Return it to 419 Ocean…and resieve a reward…$450 from…owner of Beachcomer”
At this point, Devon and I began to interpret the message differently. By the time he left, he felt that the message said
“Return it to 419 Ocean…and resieve a reward of $1,500 from…owner of Beachcomer,”
while I feel the message says:
“Return it to 419 Ocean boulevard and resieve a reward of $150 from Tina, owner of Beachcomer”
But…but…no date!!! Wah.
What do YOU think? Check it out below and comment with your reading of this message!
Closer:
And the back side:
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Hey Clint,
Hope you’ll be able to make it to NH soon with my father;s message. Missing the Beachcomber badly .Paula
Great idea. I tried pitching it to one of the CEO’s in NH and he wasn’t interested . Doh!
I’m pretty sure the back says “look inside”
Hey Clint,
Hope you’ll be able to make it to NH soon with my father;s message.
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very interesting. I threw a bottle over a ferry boat in 2004, hoping one day someone will find it!
Dear Mr. Buffington, Thanks so much for making your “likely route of messages in bottles in the Atlantic Ocean” video! When I first read the Beachcomber article from my Yahoo home page, that was the FIRST thing I wondered. Where did it go for all those years? And after it left N.H. northward on its circular clockwise Atlantic ocean current route, I think it’s cool to wonder how many times it traveled the entire circle before it was found so many years later at Turks and Caicos! And did she pay you the $150? Your website and pics are great and your smart-alecky artwork cartoons are hilarious! It’s amazing that one guy has had so many Message in a Bottle encounters! Keep it up! Ken
Hi Ken, I’m so glad you like the site! I hope you’ll come back for new stories 🙂
Clint:
My mom owned a small beach cottage not far from The Beachcomber. As far back as 50 years ago, (I would have been 10) my family spent every summer walking those beaches hoping to find a message in bottle – never did we think of sending one or that someone else had or that it would ever be found so many miles away!
I’d suggest that you one day make a trip to Hampton Beach if you can – the area is stunning, sand beaches, rocky coves, surfing, lobsters and sea glass. That’s what we hunted for on those beaches, especially North Beach just around the corner form Boar’s Head at the end of Hampton. Yes sea glass – lots of broken up bottles and dishes and things, some of it hundreds of years old. Have you found sea glass in your travels as well as bottles? It is a great treasure with its own mysteries but unfortunately unable to be solved to such a degree as your amazing shoreline finds While I live in South Carolina now, your MIAB find now have a place in our family scrapbook!
Gail Gray in Greenville, SC
That’s so cool! I am honored to make it into your scrap book 🙂 And yep, I have run into some beach glass along the way, but I bet your collection puts mine to shame!
I lifeguarded at Hampton beach for ten summers and dated the now owners daughter. I’m living in Hawaii and I’m hearing about this. I miss hanging out at the Beachcomber with the family. We all still stay in touch whenever I go home. Great find!
The back says ‘looking’ something. Maybe ‘looking good’?
http://www.lenta.ru/news/2011/08/02/bottle/ Russian news portal wrote about this too
Ha! Clint, your name in Cyrillic is Клинт Баффингтон!
Thanks, Craig! You’re the best 🙂
50 years in salt water… 100 points to Coca Cola for glass bottles with aluminum screw caps! It’s going to be not a bad commercial, isn’t it?! 🙂
Great idea. I tried pitching it to one of the CEO’s in NH and he wasn’t interested . Doh!
You took images of the message, now you can try to do image filtering on these images, this might help you to read the entire message. Either by using software like GIMP or Photoshop, or by using online tools. I hope my suggestion helps.
Thanks for the ideas!
I think that it is fantastic that you found that bottle and did she pay you the money? I am from NH and they did not say whether she was paying it or not. I realize that “Tina” has passed away but I am curious to know if her daughter is going to pay you. You should also post that beachcomber is NOT a boat albeit a great name for one.
I live in NH around Hampton! (:
http://www.wmur.com/news/28722682/detail.html?treets=man&tid=2659280921813&tml=man_natlbreak&tmi=man_natlbreak_1_08050207312011&ts=H
This story has gone “viral!!” I’m currently in Bremen. Just one question, though, have you received the $150.00 reward offered in the text of the 50 year old bottle note????
Hi Buster,
Which Bremen are you in? Germany? Just curious!
I should have told you that it’s in Manchester, New Hampshire
This was on the news this morning, WMUR9 news
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CNN loves the story WMUR did on your latest find. Can you please contact us at 404-827-1504
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Hi Clint,
I live in New Castle, NH a small town close to Hampton. I happened to pick up the Portsmouth Herald (which is funny because we don’t get the paper on Sunday). I read the article the ran on you and something struck inside of me–I was instantly captivated.
If you ever make it up to New Hampshire, let me know and i’ll buy a drink, I am thinking a Coke in an old fashion bottle.
Also if you’d like a copy of your article I can send you that too.
Thanks for making my day and helping me find a new hobby. If need any help or have some bottle hunting tips, shoot me an email– jenniefwhite[at]gmail.com.
Cheers,
Jennie
How can I watch the news segment? Will you post it on your blog?
It’s on the blog as of today!
The LEX18 segment was great!
I think the letter says $150, as that little blotch after the first three numbers seems to be where the author crossed something out.
I wonder if there’s a boat name registry somewhere in which we could look up all the boats called Beachcomer for the past 50 years.
Interesting idea about the boat registry… I wonder?
Beachcomer is a Hotel in Hampton Beach. Not a boat…
This is great Clint. You’re the first person I’ve ever blogged with. Never too late huh?
Sorry I came up anonymous. I forgot to fill in my info. It’s me up above.
Richard: Your bottle appears at 0:08-0:11, and at 0:42, and again at 1:26. In the first and last appearance, your bottle is sitting beside me–its the green one on my desk! See it?