by Betty Carew

Created on: February 12, 2009

The historical uses of messages in a bottle goes far back into history. The earliest record of someone sending a message in a bottle is around 310 BC, when Greek Philosopher Theophrastus dropped a sealed bottle into the Mediterranean. He was trying to prove that the inland body of water was formed by the inflow of the Atlantic. He would never know the answer to this in his lifetime, or at least, there is no record of any response. For us, the information we do have leaves a wealth of information, by giving us the knowledge that a bottle was used for messages a very long time ago.

Queen Elizabeth's message in bottles,

Queen Elizabeth I, who reigned in the 16th century, had a vessel for her messages, which were dropped into the ocean. At the time Queen Elizabeth used this method of communicating with spies as well as with the British fleet and bottles might have contained secret messages. Elizabeth went a little further in her endeavors to have the privacy of her messages kept secret by appointing someone to be the official "Uncorker of Ocean Bottles". She made it a capital crime, punishable by death for anyone else to open bottles. It is not recorded if this was an effective way to send or receive messages at that time.

Sailors and Passengers ,

Sailors or passengers became very proficient at dropping bottles with messages into the ocean. There are recounts by some that say, either 1780 or as early as 1714, (It is not known for sure); a man by the name of Chunosuke Matsuyama decided to go treasure hunting in the Pacific. His crew of 44, and himself, got shipwrecked on an small island in the South Pacific and knowing that there wasn't much hope of rescue, with no fresh water or food, they scratched their story unto a piece of wood, which they sealed in a bottle and dropped into the ocean. Amazingly this bottle was found 150 years later on the shores of Japan and more extraordinary than this, it is said, that it was found on the same beach where Matsuyama grew up.

Grand Turk messages,

To prove that messages is certainly not a new phenomenon there are records that in January 4th, 1861 the contents of two messages in a bottle were discussed in consular papers. One was dated August 30th, 1860 and was found at Little Bluff, Grand Turk on december2nd, 1860. The other message was dated November 6th, 1860 and found on December 31st, 1860 on the eastern side of Grand Turk.

Messages used since Elizabethans times,

Many messages in bottles have been found over time that proves the

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