“Oh, oh, oh. Yeah, it’s got proper [unclear], handwriting as well. Look at that.” “Let’s see.” “No way.” “Aye.” “No way.” “T

Engineers Discover a 132-Year-Old Message in a Bottle in a Scottish Lighthouse

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2024-11-19 03:30:02

“Oh, oh, oh. Yeah, it’s got proper [unclear], handwriting as well. Look at that.” “Let’s see.” “No way.” “Aye.” “No way.” “The following being the keepers at the station at this time. I can’t — my hands are shaking. My hands are shaking. I know they’re the keepers — because I’ve got their journals. John Wilson, principal; John B. Henderson, assistant; and John Lockhart, second assistant.”

After two centuries of faithfully guiding sailors around a blustery headland in southwest Scotland, the lighthouse needed some attention.

Ross Russell, a mechanical engineer, was helping refurbish the Corsewall Lighthouse in the village of Kirkcolm when he peeked into the cavity in a wall of the old structure. That’s when he saw it: an old glass bottle with something curled up inside.

He and his colleagues fished the bottle out of its hiding place, called the lighthouse keeper and congregated at the bottom of the structure to inspect their discovery. Inside the bottle, which was stoppered with rusted wire wrapped around an old cork, was a note handwritten in cursive.