Daily Times

A message in a bottle written 132 years ago and found on an Australian beach by a group of walkers including the parents of Formula One star Daniel Ricciardo has been verified as the world’s oldest known missive of its kind.

The rectangular bottle was discovered half-buried in sand dunes near Wedge Island, some 160 kilometres (99 miles) north of Perth, in January.

It took weeks of sleuthing using Google Translate, online research and archival digging before the unusual find was confirmed as an authentic bottle thrown from a German ship into the Indian Ocean.

The group of six had been driving through the remote west-coast dunes when Grace Ricciardo suggested they stop to take a walk, Kym Illman told AFP Wednesday.

His wife Tonya accompanied her and spotted the object, thinking it was rubbish.

“She thought, ‘That looks nice, that’ll look good on my bookshelf’,” he said.

The group thought they might have picked up something special when they shook the bottle and a damp, rolled-up parchment that looked like a cigarette fell out. Returning to their nearby holiday home, they opened the note after warming it briefly in an oven.

Published in Daily Times, March 8^th 2018.