Calling 2150 - A message in a German gin bottle

LAST week’s snowstorms made the prospect of a stroll on a sunny Australian beach even more attractive than it usually is. If that prospect included discovering a 132-year-old message in a gin bottle it would be even more beguiling.

A bottle found in Western Australia, near Wedge Island, in January was thrown from the German sailing ship Paula in 1886 as it crossed the Indian Ocean, 950km from the Australian coast. Where it has been in the interim is a matter of fanciful speculation. German ships were involved in a 69-year experiment that involved throwing thousands of bottles into the sea to track currents. Each message was marked with the ship’s coordinates, the date, and the name of the ship.