Quarter Century-Old Message in a Bottle Found in Scotland

Members of the Pentland Canoe Club in Scotland found a remarkable discovery during a beach cleanup earlier this month, when they came across a 25-year-old message in a bottle.

Retired high school teacher David Shand, who found the relic amongst a pile of other similar plastic bottles not containing notes inside, initially had trouble deciphering what was written. “The message was originally written on orange paper and is extremely fragile,” Shand told The Northern Times. “The orange has faded to white.”

Though significantly distressed, the letter appeared to read: “If you find…is…My name is Lynn Migh… and my postcode is AB38… and my telephone is… I live in PCD Rothes Scotland.”

In an effort to locate the author, British Canoeing, the national governing body for paddlesports in the U.K., posted a photo of the note to its Facebook page.

Shand did some quick detective work of his own and presumed the letter came from Rothes Primary School, about 43 miles (70 km) from its landing spot. “If this message was put in the river [at Rothes] it shows how pollution travels into the sea and ends up on a beach,” Shand marveled. “It has probably been in the environment for about 30 years and maybe on this inaccessible beach for most of this time.”

He shared the letter with the current head of Rothes, who through a “brainstorming” process with other staff, was able to locate the former student who penned the note.

Lynn Gardner, née Mighten, is an events development manager with Highland News and Media in Scotland. “I do features about events in the papers but am very much behind the scenes,” Gardner told The Northern Times, which ironically is owned by Highland News and Media. “I don’t put my face out there, and when I heard this was going to be a news story I thought, ‘oh no.'”

Despite her initial unease, Gardner ultimately decided that the publicity would be a good lesson for her two daughters, who currently attend Rothes, to learn about the effects of plastic pollution. Both Gardner and Shand found it equally remarkable that the bottle could travel the roiling waters of the Highland coast and still remain intact.

Shand has since reportedly sent Gardner the bottle in the hopes that it will return “fond memories of the day she wrote the letter and launched it from the Burn of Rothes, not knowing if it would ever be found, or how far it would travel!”

“We just thought it would be fun if someone got back in touch with us,” Gardner told the Times. “I never thought it would happen. It just felt like something cool to do at the time.”