The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-01
BOTTLED RoMANCES.
STRANGE STORIES OF CORKED-UP
MESSENGERS.

Tracing of Ocean Currents by Means
OF Bottle Papers Set Adrift-A
stick That Carried Word Across
the AtIantic-SOme Remarkable
Voyages Made by BOttIes-The
Work of the Prince Of Monaco.
From the Hartford Times.
Bottle papers are a new experiment Of
Uncle Sans. Within the last three years
many thousands of them have been dis
tributed among mariners by the hydro
graphic office OF the navy, with instruc-
tons to throw them into the sea Some
hundreds have already been picked up in
various parts Of the world. a few of them
having hoated nearly around the globe.
The voyages accomplished by them have
been the means of securing much new
scientific information, relating to the cur
rents of different oceans. In fact, the
| success in this line has been so great
that the government proposes to continue
the business.
In the records of the photographic Of
| flee is preserved a very remarkable story,
/ Illustrating the eccentricity of the ocean
currents, which the bottle papers are de-
signed to trace. on the second day Of
| September, 1882, the young daughter OF
the blacksmith of Gamma, an island OF
| the Hebrides group, was wandering along
the seashOre for the purpose of gathering
| driftwOod for fuel. She CHANGED to pick
/ up small piece of wood which bore an
| inscription that has been cut with a
knife. 1t read 'Lachlan Campbell, Bill
bao, March %, 1892" The child took
| 1t TO her mother, who nearly tainted on
examining II. The name was that of her
| own son, who was boilermaker in Spain.
| superSutiouS feeling inspired her with
the notion that the stick was a message
| from her boy and a harbinger of evil It'd
lngs regardings him. She wrote to him at
/ once, telling him what had happened,
| and was greatly relieved i'm mind TO learn
| ~ return mail that he was alive and well.
he told her that he well remembered
/ now, on a certain holiday, he had carved
| such words on piece of wood and thrown
! 1t idly into the sea from rock near Bill
bao.
The voyages made by some of the bottle
| papers distributed by Uncle Sam have
been quite as extraordinary in various
/ ways. Originally. as given out to marin
| ers, they are printed blanks, forming part
| OF the regular record-books for meteoro-
! logical reports. 1t should be explained
| that the government is in habitual CORES
| pondence with about $500 shippers of
! steam and sailing vessels. These men are
/ voluntary obserVers-that is to say they
/ send reports to the photographic office
! by mail as frequently as possible. At the
! Greenwich noon each day, which is a.
| M III Washington, they note the direc-
ton and force of the wind. the tempera-
ture OF air and sea, the motion of sea and
! clouds, the reading of the barometer, and
such odd points as the presence of birds.
! whales, seals and driftwood. These last ali
have relation to weather.
/ The notes thus made are jotted down i'm
! a book on blanks, which are torn out and
forwarded to Washington as soon as the
vessel reaches port, incidentally. the
sighting of any derelict-i. e., abandoned
! and water-logged ship, always dangerous
| 10 marlners-is recorded, with latitude and
| longitude duly stated. Such data are par
| tlcularly valuable to the navy department
| in making up the monthly charts In re-
| turn, the pilot charts are furnished regu-
larry to the shippers. Nowadays, in the
back of each record-book of the sort de-
| scrtbed are number of the printed
| blanks for bottle papers, arranged like
checks in checkbook, so that they may be
nlled IN and torn out Each paper bears
| instructions in seven languages as to the
manner in which the eventual finder of the
paper shall proceed. Thus, no matter on
| what foreign shore it lands the directions
| can hardly fail to be understood.
The skipper fills one-half OF. the blank
with the name Of his vessel its position
| and the date. Then he folds it up and
puts it into an empty bottle-a beer bot
tie serves very well for the purpose-and
corks it tightly. Obviously, it is very inn
| portant that the corking shall be tight,
| and it is recommended that the neck of
| the bottle, after the cork has been put
in, shall be plunged into melted paraffine.
! In this way the bottle is rendered prac-
| tically waterproof barring accidents.
| Nothing remains but that it shall float
| whithersoeVer it lists, until at length it
! is thrown up by the sea upon some shore
| far away. The finder is requested in sew
| eral languages, as aforesaid, to fill out
| the other half of the blank, giving his
| name, the locality and the date-thereupon
| forwarding the paper by mail or other
wise to the nearest United States consul
| ington.
Lots of fun develops incidentally to the
bottle paper business. Some of the pa
pers received by the photographic office
are very amusing. For example, one that
was committed to the ocean by the skip
| per of the brig Huntcliff reads: March
| 3, 1895, 1870 p. m. In latitude "A degrees
utes w. This was dropped overheard in
| a bottle. If ever picked up kindly inform
! Geological Society, London; but do not
| incur any expense, as, all being well, and,
weather fine and sea smooth, there is not
any need. Particularly notice this, as the
master is merely trying to make the light
on Sand Cay, after which he will retire
| for awhile. So goodnight" This bottle
was picked up on the Island of Flores, in
the Azores, Oct 10, 1895.
One of the most remarkable bottles was
| dropped by the yacht L'Hirondelle, be-
| longing to the Prince of Monaco. He
threw it overheard in July. 1887, in the
mid-Atlantic, about 1000 miles due east
| of New York. 1t fioated about for nearly
! eight. years, being picked up in March,
! 1895, in the neighborhood of Cuba. Dur
! ing that period it is supposed to have
| drifted 5000 miles. Another long voyage
was that OF bottle put into the water
/ in June, $780, by the brigantine Charles
| Cotesworth, not far south of Cape Verde
| Islands. 1t was not picked up until June
| 1895. in the Gulf of Mexico. having trav,
! eled about $500 miles. Quite a rapid voy-
ager was bottle dropped by the bark
| Oostenberg in May, 1894. 1t Travelled $500
miles in just year, starting from near
| Madeira and bringing up on one of the
| Bahamas. OF course the routes taken bv
| the bottles are very devious drifting as
| they do hither and thither, with the cur
| thew Chnnca 90 ir,ff =
/ stream that makes a circuit of the North
Atlantic, they are apt to be carried clear
across the ocean and back one or more
| times.
The routes followed by the bottle papers
| picked up and returned to the hydro
| graphic office are marked on the charts
| These charts are a very curious study
| The starting point of the bottle is indi-
Gated by star, and the place where it
| turned up eventually by 8. little circle
Between. the star and the circle in each
| case is drawn line Indicating approx
mately the course taken in drifting From
an examination of one of these charts it