49-year-old greeting card designer postcards Amy Smith Murphy, walking along the beach in New Jersey earlier this month, came across an unusual object washed up on the shore by the ocean.
This information was reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, reports “URA-Inform”.
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It turned out to be the “world's oldest” note in a bottle. Amy took the green bottle home and opened it with a corkscrew, while her niece used toothpicks to pull out the yellowed scrap of paper from inside.
It took us about 48 hours to figure out what it said, but if you look closely, you can make out the handwriting with the naked eye: “Yacht “Neptune” near Atlantic City, New Jersey. August 6 – 76″, Amy said.
Despite the bottle having been in the ocean for 148 years, it was found just 15 miles from where it was washed up. Amy decided to find out how old it was and found an identical Barr & Brother Philadelphia bottle, dated 1900, on a collector's website. Other similar bottles were made in the 1870s.
The note was written on the back of a business card for the famous Philadelphia tool company W.G. & J Klemm, which was in business in the 1800s.
“I'd like to know who was on that ship and where they were going. Was it for pleasure or business?” the woman said.
Amy also found an 1874 obituary that mentioned Captain Samuel Gale of Atlantic City, owner of the yacht “Neptune”. The yacht was popular for day cruises, attracting many travelers.
«Apparently, people really liked the captain's mystery. Let's see how much information we can find about this bottle, in particular, let's try to figure out how it is connected to Philadelphia and South Jersey, Murphy said.
The story of the note in the bottle was an amazing discovery and an example of how unexpected finds can shed light on ancient times.
Recall that it was previously reported why the Great Sphinx does not have a nose.