Wexford boys find message in bottle that travelled across Atlantic

Two Wexford boys made a surprising discovery on their local beach when they found a message in a bottle that had spent the last year-and-a-half travelling 4,800km across the Atlantic Ocean.

Cousins Cian and Tiarnan O’Grady, both 15, came across the bottle while beachcombing on Cullenstown Strand, near Wellington Bridge, in the wake of Storm Frank.

The message inside was written by Ken and Suzanne Baker, from Scituate, a coastal town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, which is often referred to as the most Irish town in America.

One of the most amazing and coincidental aspects to the story is that Mrs Baker’s maiden name is Grady meaning the message that crossed the Atlantic was placed in the sea in America by a Grady and recovered from the sea in Ireland by an O’Grady.

“The chances of us both having such similar names is remarkable,” said Cian’s father Colm.

Among the other coincidences are that Mr O’Grady and Mr Baker are both of a similar age, they both enjoy kayaking, and have an active interest in fishing.

The Bakers’ son, Ryan, is also 15 — the same age as Cian and Tiarnan.

“We don’t get too many bottles washing in with messages and for us to find one like this was great,” said Cian.

His father replied to the email address contained in the message from the Bakers and said that the two families have been in regular contact since.

Mr O’Grady said that the discovery is something that is unlikely to happen again — especially with regard to the names cropping up on both sides of the ocean.

“It hasn’t happened to us before and probably won’t happen again for a very long time, if at all,” he said.