The Discovery of an Old Message in a Bottle From a West German Sailor

My brother Evan is no stranger to finding extremely cool, very old messages in bottles. Just for example, there was the 20 year old German message in a bottle he found in 2015 and we solved in 2017. And, like me, he’s also found one or two of the 1959 Guinness messages in bottles.Well, he just opened another humdinger! He found this bottled note on a deserted Caribbean island after it had been at sea for decades… My family guessed many things about this bottle as it waited to be opened, but we never would have guessed it would turn out to be from a West German sailor from 10 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall… Here’s how it all unfolded.

Just look at that thing! If you were around in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, that bottle will look very familiar. This is how they all used to be: Glass, with an aluminum screw cap. This particular size, shape, and cap style looked to me like something from the late 70s or basically any time in the 80s.

How To Open a Fragile Message in a Bottle

As always with these older bottles, we had to be very careful with the opening and preservation of this note. I mean, you can SEE that it’s falling apart inside the bottle! The paper is insanely thin, and in some places, completely dissolved.

First of all, Evan had to use a dremel tool to cut the glass instead of smashing it with a hammer. Smashing a bottle to get a message out can only lead to sorrow.

Evan’s done this a lot of times, and got that bottle open without a hitch.

How To Preserve An Old Message in a Bottle

Our next task was to get the paper opened and laid flat so it would not crumble entirely. Of course, some breakage was unavoidable, but we did our best to preserve it. The main thing is to have a spray bottle handy for spritzing the dry old paper and making it supple enough to unfold. It’s also important to have a flat surface on which to unfold it, and which will not stick to the paper.

How To Read An Old Message In A Bottle

The next challenge with this message was to figure out how to read it. The author used pencil, which was HUGELY important – pen does not hold up as well in bottled messages. However, the paper had been so darkened by sun exposure, essentially cooking inside the bottle for years, that there was very little contrast left between the dark pencil writing and the dark paper. So, we had to use flashlights and other lighting tricks to see as much as possible. After poring over the message for a long time, piecing bits together and checking with each other that we were all seeing the same things, here is what we read, with parentheses indicating missing words or guesses:

Hello,

Now it is the 13th (…) June. I’m on duty and don’t know what to do. I hope somebody finds this letter. I am a German sailor on a trip from Azores to Bermuda with the German War-ship FGS Koeln. I would be not (…) you would write me a letter back. My address:

Franz Pickha(…)

FGS Koeln

4(low circle symbol) Einfahrt

2940 Wilhem(shaven)

W-Germany

My Birthday (indecipherable) 58

What We Knew About Franz Pickha… West German Sailor

For all the writing visible, this left us with very little to go on. We knew his first name was Franz, and his last name began Pickha…

We also knew he was born in 1958.

Obviously, he was a West German sailor before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and on a ship called FGS Koeln (though multiple ships bore this name over the years).

We knew he was traveling from Azores to Bermuda on a ship based out of Wilhelmshaven.

Some things we could surmise or assume:

If he was born in 1958, then he probably didn’t join the military before 1976. Also, the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Whenever he threw this message out to sea, it had to be between 1976 and 1989.

Since he was born in 1958, he would be about 64 years old today.

Since he was a West German sailor, my gut told me that he would live today in what was formerly West Germany. That doesn’t exactly narrow things down much, but it’s not nothing!

What We Did Not Know About Franz Pickha…

Because the paper disintegrated at the ending of his last name, we couldn’t figure it out. Was Franz’s last name Pickhauser? Pickhart? Pickhard? Pickhardt? Unfortunately none of these are common German surnames – and indeed no last name beginning “Pickha…” is very common in Germany. This made us doubt whether we were seeing it correctly, but every time we looked, we saw “PICKHA…”

Why did he write his message in English? Is it because he knew the prevailing currents on his route would guide the bottle toward the USA?

How do you find a former West German sailor? Are there any records available that would allow me to see who was on a given ship at a given time?

How We Found Franz Pickhard, The Author Of This Message In A Bottle!

Considering that we were missing some crucial pieces of information (full last name, relevant current address, and date), I really thought we may never find Franz. I thought, even if we DID find him, it would take weeks or months.

Nevertheless, I posted on Instagram and Facebook about Evan’s message in a bottle, and asked for help.

People had the best ideas! Folks in Germany explained the address and homeport (Wilhelmshaven) of the ship, and offered suggestions of how to contact the port itself, or the German Navy to get more information. Everyone had thoughts on what his last name could be, how to find him, etc.

The most important thing that happened was that people started sharing the post. I knew this was the only way to find Franz…

Meanwhile, I had been searching for all the variations of his last name that I could think of, and I kept circling back to this mention of “Franz Pickhard” in a little church newsletter from Neuberg an der Kammel.

One day after posting my plea for help on Facebook and Instagram, I woke up planning to email the church in Neuberg an der Kammel responsible for the above newsletter to see if they could put me in touch with their Franz Pickhard.

Well, I never go the chance to, because FRANZ FOUND ME!

WEEEE FOOOOUND HIIIIMMMM!!! After ONE DAY! HOW?!?!?

Well, it turned out that Franz goes by “Dutsch,” which explains why searching for “Franz Pickhard” was practically fruitless—except for that Neuberg Church newsletter. And guess where Franz / Dutsch lives? Neuberg! So, at least I was on the right track.

Once we connected, many of Dutsch’s old shipmates began to chime in. Importantly, they clarified the year in which Dutsch sent his bottle: 1979! That meant it was just shy of 45 years old when we opened it!

Many thanks to Peter Stein, a fellow message in a bottle enthusiast based in Germany, for sharing this post to the Facebook page for former sailors of the FGS Koln. I’m not certain, but I think this may have been how Franz / Dutsch learned his message in a bottle had been found.

Who Is Franz “Dutsch” Pickhard, German Author of 1979 Message in a Bottle?

Based on our exchanges on Facebook and what others have said about Dutsch, he seems like a lively and adventurous person, a creative and curious person. He plays accordion in the Uebersee Band, and even performed in concerts on his ship, the FGS Koeln, around the time he made his bottled note. He’s friendly and funny, too. In short, he shares many of the characteristics of people whose bottled notes my family has found.

Thank You For Helping Us Solve This Message in a Bottle

Dutsch’s message in a bottle was so fragile, we held off on opening it for a long time, so it became a bit of a fixture in our family… That scary old bottled note that would SURELY fall apart if we ever opened it!

The fact that we DID finally open it, and managed to prevent it from falling completely apart is a small miracle on its own.

The fact that we then posted about the message and connected with Dutsch within a single day is beyond miraculous to me – it’s “cuckoo bananas” to use my brother’s phrase!

This was only possible thanks to those of you who continue to help us share these stories about bottled messages. I want to thank you sincerely for your time and attention! Everyone who read our story, watched our videos, liked, commented, or shared contributed… Every little action you took convinced the algorithms that our story was interesting and worthwhile. The way the internet works today, that is extremely important.

So THANK YOU! From all of us! And don’t be a stranger! You know I will need your help again soon 🙂

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