The Portland daily press., 1897-01-21
VOYAGE OF A SODA BOTTLE,
1t Crossed the Stormy Exranse of the At
Iantic and Landed on the COAST OF eWe-
den-F loated All the Way.

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coast to the shores of Sweden, is the
drifting record that common glass SOFA
water bottle BIAS just made.
Three thousa nd miles is in reality only
very small portion of the actual dis
lance tavelled by this bottle, and when
the varying drifts of the many ocean cur
rent which exist in the North Atlantic
are considered it can readily be seen that
the chances are that 10. 600 miles would
not be an extreme estimate for the dis
tanee covered.
Within the bottle was message ask
ing that it be returned to the writer, and
although period of thirteen months
elapsed between the time the bottle WAS
thrown into the sea off the Newfound-
land coast and the finding OF it on the
coast of Sweden, the message WAS finally
sent to the man who wrote it, appar-
entity none the worse for its long voyage
1t now forms q conspicuous memento
among a lot of eurios gat hered from all
parts Of the world.
On the afternoon of Sept. 28. 1895, Ed
win q. Mccoy, of Huntingdon, Que,
was one of party of returning tourists
who, on board the steamship Lake Win
nipeg, were counting the days and hours
before they would reach their homes.
One of the party suggested that as the
voyage was nearly ended they should
each inclose a message within bottle
and throw 1T overheard, and that each
of the party should notify the others in
the event of the message being returned.
Without any expectation OF ever hear
ing from it again, Mr.. Mccoy, with the
others, threw O bottle overheard. 1t was
an ordinary white glass soda bottle,
about eight inches long with short
neck, and weighed about ten ounces. 1t
was securely corked, and within was
| slip of paper torn from an ordinary note
book. The paper was rulcd with blue
| lines, and on it was written in lead PEN
Gil the following:
"S. S. Lake Winnipeg, Sept. 28, 1895.
The finder will be rewarded by return
ing this to "E. G. MOODY.
Huntingdon, Que, Canada.
When the bottle was thrown over
board the steamer WAS just entering the
| Gulf Stream off the Newfoundland coast,
and was ssaout 100 miles from the Straits
| of Belle Isle. Had the bottle continued
| in the main stream it would have been
washed ashore on the Scandinavian coast
| long ago, bat everything indicates that
through some trick of wind and wave the
| bottle got out of the main stream and
must have followed the course of the
current which sets snuthwesterly from
| the British coast, around the Azores, and
| on into the easterly trade winds which
set steadily toward the American COASTS.
There are several currents In this part
of the ocean, ell Of which have wes-
terly drift. some toward the Sonth
American coast, while others turn in a
l liz 6irooti0n and QV0nfnAllY
get back into the Gulf Stream. This
was the course. in oil probability, fol-
| lowed by the bottle, and as evidence OF
| this there were found on 1t when 1T Was
picked up pieces of seawesd and marine
erowths which GOULD only become at
| tacheL to it in tropical waters.
On October z, 1896, thirteen months At
| ter Mr.. Mccoy dropped the bottle over
| board, Alfred Alstrum, teacher in the
public schools of Orchestral, Sweden, was
walking along the seashora near that
place, when his attention was attra ;sed
| by something which had just been
washed ashore by the waves.
| He picked it np and fonud 1t to be q
glass bottle. Clinging to the outside an d
the cork were long seaweeds and tiny
marine animals, while within could be
sesn bit of paper with some writing
upon it. Taking it home Mr.. Alstrum
read the centsnts of the note, and, ind
| ing it to be the one dropped months be-
fore by Mr.. Mccoy into the sea. he
mailed the note back to Canada.
Mr., Mccoy was not little surprised
the other day to receive letter post
marked Orchestral, Sweden, and he was
mono the less surprised when his long
absent note was received from tho bottle.
This is the only letter, so far as known,
which ever made the journey scross the
ocean without the aid of man.