Diver Finds Message in a Bottle Sent in 1926

• Jennifer Dowker was maintaining her boat underwater when she spotted an antique green bottle on the riverbed.
• She found that the bottle contained a message inside, dated November 1926!
• She was able to reach the writer’s daughter who recalled how her late father loved hiding small notes in unlikely places.

Boat captain Jennifer Dowker loves scuba diving, especially in the summer. She also conducts shipwreck tours for Michigan-based Nautical North Family Adventures from her boat, the Yankee Sunshine. It has understandably made her an avid collector of curious things found underwater.

One day, she was performing underwater maintenance on her boat’s glass-bottom window when she spotted something on the riverbed.

The green glass bottle was shaped like it was an antique. Upon closer inspection, she realized there was a note inside.

The note was slightly water-logged but she and her crew could still read the message clearly. It turns out that the message inside the bottle survived an amazing nine and a half decades in the water!

The message, dated November 1926, read: “Will the person who finds this bottle return this paper to George Morrow Cheboygan, Michigan and tell where it was found?”

When Jennifer shared a picture of the nearly century-old message on Facebook, the post became viral. It was shared over 100,000 times and 6,000 users commented. One of the people who saw the message was able to track down Morrow’s daughter, Michele Primeau, even though she didn’t have a Facebook account.

Michele was informed of the situation and given Jennifer’s contact information. Her father had passed away in 1995.

She instantly recognized her father’s handwriting. She added that her father was definitely the type to send out a message in a bottle, recalling how he always hid away small notes away in unlikely places.

Michele told CNN, “I can just see him going out and doing that because it was his birthday. I don’t know for sure. But it just sounds like something he would have done.”

Jennifer said that she’d send the mementos over. But after thinking about it overnight, Michele decided that her father would want to stand by the policy of “finders keepers.”

“I thought the right thing to do would be to give it to her. She found it and that would keep my dad’s name living on,” Michele told CNN.

Jennifer shared that she will help preserve Morrow’s legacy by putting the souvenirs on prominent display and sharing the story behind them. Michele plans to visit in September to see the family keepsakes in person.

It was also a pleasant coincidence that the exchange happened on Father’s Day weekend. Michele certainly loved how it brought back wonderful memories with her father.

Source: Good News Network