Message In A Bottle

May 30, 2003
 
By Leslie Knopp

FERNDALE - Ever walked the beach and dreamed of finding a treasure in the sand?

Wanda Christensen of Ferndale says the sea brought her a treasure.

A message in a bottle.

She was vacationing in the Bahamas on Crooked Island. One day while walking the beach... "I happened to notice this bottle, picked it up and there was this message, a little piece of paper all curled up inside it."

It was a message from 'Emily'.

It reads: Emily. 27.6 north 67.5 west. This bottle is from Naragansett, Rhode Island, USA. It was set off at 2:25 a.m. October 16, 1993 about 50 miles off shore while fishing. I wonder how far this note will go? Maybe it will never be found, but whoever finds this drop me a line. Thanks.

In ten years the bottle had traveled from Narragansett, Rhode Island all the way to Crooked Island in the Bahamas. The ocean current could have taken it past Europe, West Africa, and then back across the Atlantic.

Now Wanda wants to answer the question, who wrote it? Messages in bottles are supposed to be mysteries or love stories. But this one sounds like a note from a little girl. "Just to see if someone is out there," said Christensen.

There's no address or phone number. But if you look closely, there are indentations, an address might have been there, and faded away.

"I'd like to meet the person. If it was a kid, could you imagine how excited a kid would be, somebody actually found it!"

Wanda says she'll keep it like it's a treasure, unless through time and distance, she finds Emily.