The bottle appears to contain a business card and a handwritten note from 1876. If that date is accurate, it would make this discovery 10 years older than the current world record holder for oldest message in a bottle.
The message in a bottle found by Amy Smyth Murphy.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, a New Jersey woman named Amy Smyth Murphy stumbled upon a bottle that had washed ashore on Corson’s Inlet. The bottle was sealed with a cork and contained papers. Curious and excited, she took it back to her beach house to see what was inside. As soon as she uncorked it, she was greeted by an intense, musty odor described as “the bay smell times one million.”
Looking past the smell, Amy found inside what appeared to be a business card and a handwritten note from 1876. If this date is verified, it would make her find the oldest message in a bottle ever discovered.
The Discovery Of The World’s Oldest Message In A Bottle
The message found inside the bottle, which references a yacht called the Neptune.
On a lovely morning in early July, 49-year-old Amy Smyth Murphy was walking along the beaches of Corson’s Inlet State Park in New Jersey when she found a green-colored bottle with several papers tucked inside. Her excitement skyrocketed as she opened it up.
Back in 2018, an Australian couple named Tonya and Kym Illman found a message in a bottle from 1886. The gin bottle was tossed overboard by the captain of the German ship, Paula, and holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest message in a bottle found. However, if the date on Amy’s bottle is confirmed, it would beat that record by a decade.
Amy has applied to have her bottle examined by Guinness World Records. But this vetting process could take months.
The bottle as it looked when Amy Smyth Murphy found it.
“I really like the mystery. I love the research,” Amy told NJ Advance Media.
The smell that emerged from the bottle was the first thing Amy noticed. “The smell that came out of it was unbelievable,” she said. It was like “the bay smell times one million. We were not prepared for that.”
A yacht captained by Samuel Gale.
While waiting for the Guinness decision, Amy and her family have become fascinated with researching the bottle’s origins. Their early findings have been quite intriguing.
What Message Did The Bottle Contain?
The second piece of paper, a handwritten note, seems to refer to an old yacht named Neptune that dates back to the late 1800s. Archives from The Philadelphia Inquirer mention that Neptune was docked in Atlantic City during that time, and it was captained by Samuel Gale.
Through her research, Amy found out that Gale likely lived in Atlantic City around those years.
Samuel Gale’s property in Atlantic City.
“On a site dedicated to old maps, there was a map of Atlantic City from 1877, presumably drawn in 1876,” Amy wrote on her blog. “The town was so sparsely populated that the names of the residents were listed rather than addresses. Unbelievably, S. Gale was named on one of the properties, prompting a trip to AC so I could walk the route; Capt. Sam went to work every day.”
In another blog post, Amy detailed more about Gale’s life and his career as the captain of Neptune. From her research, Neptune was a pleasure yacht, and “Captain Sam” would often take people out on the water. Gale appeared to be a well-known figure in New Jersey, as his obituary referred to him as “a leading figure in this city’s life… until in recent years failing health forbade his wonted activity.”
After reading about this fascinating discovery, perhaps expand your curiosity to other historic findings like the raising of the “Titanic of the Alps” or the infamous shipwreck of the Andrea Gail.
