As a fisherman, Harold was often out in his boat and decided one day to throw a message in a bottle overboard. After receiving a reply, he continued throwing bottles out regularly. In every bottle the message is dated, includes his name and address and asks for a response. In some instances he has received replies from bottles which had been sent out 10 years previously.
Since 1996 he has sent out nearly 5000 messages in bottles from the beach near his home on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and has received more than 3000 replies, from all over the world.
I have always thought about sending a message in a bottle, just to see if I would get a reply. Living in London makes that slightly tricky, not a lot of nearby sea, but perhaps I'll take it up if I move away from the city.
It's incredibly warming to hear of stories like this when these days even normal letter-writing is seen as being archaic and out-dated by the majority of people. Of course there are the vintage-lovers and retro darlings such as our good selves who keep this beautiful art alive, but I grinned like a Cheshire cat upon hearing about Harold's project. So romantic!
If you have never found or sent a message in a bottle, you could always order a real message in a bottle from Bottle Me A Message!
I know it's not the same, but I recently discovered these nautical bottle inspired printables from Andrea of A Paper Sparrow:
Have you ever sent or received a message in a bottle?
2 hellos:
Letters for the absolute win.
Cxx
It'd be a bit embarrassing if you chucked a message in a bottle into the Thames and got a reply just a few days later from someone down the road, rather unimpressed at how far you managed to get it!
Those letters are awesome though. More than compensate for the living in London bit.
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