9 Awesome Messages in Bottles from 2015

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Examples of Amazing Real Messages in Bottles Found in 2015

2015 was a great year for messages in bottles! Old friendships were revived; new friendships were made; final words from lost loved ones washed ashore. Full of powerful coincidences and connections, 2015 was sort of a message in a bottle in itself: the year was the bottle, and these lovely little examples of the goodness that comes of being kind to each other were the messages. So, cheers to another year of magical, amazing, strange, lovely messages in bottles!

1. A Friendship Reignited by a Message in a Bottle

In this story, a group of old friends who hadn’t seen each other much lately finds their friendship revived by the arrival in the mail of a message in a bottle they’d sent together in 1999. It was found in the Philippines and returned just recently. Sweeeet!

Example of a message in a bottle found in 2015, written on a post-it note.

Photo: KING 5 News

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11 Incredible Messages in Bottles From 2022

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2022 Delivered Amazing Examples of Messages in Bottles

Every year brings fascinating new message in a bottle stories… But 2022 was in a league of its own, with one mind-boggling message in a bottle story after another! 2022 was like the “Summer of Love” but for bottled messages. It’s hard to imagine another year ever containing the sheer multitude of powerful message in a bottle stories that this year gave us, though 2016 wasn’t too shabby.

The examples of messages in bottles from 2022 below cover the whole range: Some are “young,” some are “old,” some traveled far, others did not. All, however, brought joy to the people involved. All created beautiful connections that would never be possible any other way.

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Message in a Bottle Depicts World Record Paddleboard Journey

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Message in a Bottle Marks Halfway Point for World Record Paddleboard Effort

Paddling across the Atlantic at night during record setting paddleboard journey.

Paddling across the Atlantic at night.

Imagine this: Midnight in the North Atlantic ocean. Blackish blue night radiates out from you endlessly in all directions; darkness so deep and boundless you almost can’t tell which way is up. Starlight twinkles faintly on the waves sloshing around you. The milky way fluoresces in the unthinkable black canopy above you. The water is frigid, the waves relentless. You are on a paddleboard 50 centimeters wide, over a thousand miles from land, attempting to set a world record by crossing the entire pitiless ocean using nothing but the power of your arms and this paddleboard.

Almost a month ago, you started paddling off the coast of Canada, pointed toward France. With two teammates, you trade off paddling for two hours at a time, and you never get more than one or two hours of sleep between shifts. After nearly four weeks of nonstop paddling, you are only halfway there… Continue reading

Maud Butler, Fearless Stowaway, Noted in Christmas 1915 Messages in Bottles

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The Strange Tale of Three 1915 Messages in Bottles & Stowaway Maud Butler

On New Year’s Day, 1916, three messages in bottles washed ashore right beside each other near Portland Bay, Victoria, Australia. Three! And one man (Maurice J. Leddin) found this pile of treasure. All were written by Australian soldiers from New South Wales, en route to WWI. All were written on Christmas Day, 1915. A couple of them told a curious story about a young woman on board their ship–a stowaway. This young woman was Maud Butler, a country girl who tried to sneak into the Great War. Maud Butler became famous for her attempt to fight for Australia in WWI. But before any of that fame arrived, soldiers wrote about her in these soon-to-be-found messages in bottles.

As details emerged, Butler’s amazing story inspired many at the time (though she really did get in deep trouble for stowing away). Maud Butler fascinated me the moment I learned her story – and I only learned it thanks to the messages in bottles in this post. There’s much more to Maud Butler’s story than I can fit here, as you can read on the Australian War Memorial’s page about her. But I just want to share a bit here to show how messages in bottles have a truly unique ability to provide windows into history, and into other peoples’ lives.

Message in a Bottle Tells of “Girl On Board Dressed As A Soldier”

The Koroit Sentinel and Tower Hill Advocate printed a story on January 22nd, 1916, about the three messages in bottles found together on New Year’s Day of that year by a Maurice J. Leddin. The soldiers had dropped them overboard on Christmas Day of 1915.

Vintage news article about Ted Blakey, who wrote a message in a bottle mentioning the famous stowaway Maud Butler. Ted Blakey survived the war.

Vintage news article about Ted Blakey, who mentioned Maud Butler in his message in a bottle (though not by name).

The whole thing is crazy! Can you imagine finding three messages in bottles washed up beside each other? Madness! And this particular message in a bottle mentions Maud Butler, though not by name. She was trying to get to Gallipoli to fight alongside her brother.

These messages in bottles about Maud Butler join the ranks of several other famous and fascinating messages in bottles concerning Australia. There’s the incredible story of Thomas Hughes’ message in a bottle, found ages after he sent it–also en route to WWI–and returned to his elderly granddaughter. Then there’s the second oldest message in a bottle ever found, which, at almost 132 years of age, was discovered in Australia’s coastal sand dunes. There’s even an incredible tale of a message in a bottle making its way to Australia’s second prime minister, Alfred Deakin. When it comes to messages in bottles, Australia doesn’t mess around!

These messages also join the exclusive club of extremely interesting messages in bottles sent on Christmas Day, alongside the likes of Frank Hayostek’s WWII message in a bottle, which he sent on Christmas Day of 1945. Continue reading

Real Love Poem in a Bottle Recalls “Night of Stormy Passion”

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Sweet and Spicy Love Poem in a Bottle Remains Unsolved

When I first began finding messages in bottles, it felt like I’d fallen into an alternate universe where anything was possible. And many of those early bottles held romantic messages. But one I found waaaaay back in 2009 has always stuck in my mind. I’m referring to the message in a bottle at far right in this photo. There, inside that big, dark wine bottle, was a message I would never forget. In fact, it turned out to be not just a love letter in a bottle, but actually a love poem in a bottle!

Clint Buffington on beach with messages in bottles, including "Pirate of my Hart" romantic love poem in a bottle.

Clint Buffington on beach with messages in bottles, including “Pirate of my Hart” love poem in a bottle.

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1979 Georgia Message in a Bottle From James H. Fort SOLVED!

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1979 Message in a Bottle Unmasks Georgia’s Intriguing James H. Fort

43 years ago in the foggy past, on September 22nd, 1979, James H. Fort embarked in his sailboat from Columbus, Georgia and tossed an enchanting message in a bottle into the Chattahoochee River. Incredibly, Sting and the Police had just released “Message in a Bottle” on September 7th, just two weeks earlier. I doubt it was playing over the radio as Fort tossed his bottle overboard since it didn’t become popular in the USA until a bit later, but still, that’s a nice little coincidence, don’t you think?

Anyway, after 39 years, James H. Fort’s message was found by the Bland family of Georgetown, Georgia in 2018. Sadly, Georgia’s WRBL, who first reported the story, and the Blands themselves were unable to find James H. Fort, or even any information on him. This has bothered me every day since then. I don’t like admitting defeat, just because a message in a bottle is old

A little while after the Bland family’s incredible find, I reported on a 50 year old message in a bottle, also from a Georgia author, that my dad found. Amazingly, we connected with the author of that 1970 message in a bottle. This all got me thinking recently that I should dive back into this story to see if I could help. Who was James H. Fort anyway? And why did he send this message in a bottle? Could social media come to the rescue and help us find the sender of this message in a bottle?

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