The oldest known message in a bottle was discovered by New Jersey resident Smith Murphy, who came across it while taking a leisurely stroll along the beach.
The find is dated to the 19th century.
There were several things inside the bottle. One of them was a note with someone's handwriting on it saying "Yacht Neptune in Atlantic City, New Jersey, August 6/76."
A search of the archives revealed that the yacht bearing this name was built by Captain Samuel Gale of the aforementioned Atlantic City.
The second item turned out to be something like a business card belonging to the furniture manufacturing company WG & J. Klemm.
It actually existed – right at the end of the 19th century, and its leaders were the Klemma brothers.
Researchers have determined that the note in the bottle was written on August 6, 1876 – 10 years before the previous record holder, found in Australia.
Unfortunately, it will not be possible to establish the author of the note: since the yacht “Neptune” was used as a vessel for sea excursions, the note could have been written by any of its passengers or crew members.
