Video: Message in bottle makes it to sender's daughter after 50 years

Paula's dad wrote the message for her mother Tina. Photo: CBS

A message in a bottle has travelled thousands of miles over 50 years - and has finally found its way back to the sender's daughter.

The father of Paula Pierce, from New Hampshire, put a message into a Coca Cola bottle and threw it into the ocean in the hope that it would find its way back to his wife Tina, Paula's mother.

It is unclear exactly when the message was written, but it is thought it could possibly date back to 1960.

It read: 'Return to 419 Ocean Boulevard and receive a reward of $150 from Tina, owner of the Beachcomber.'

Paula Pierce. Photo: CBS

Ms Pierce took over the family's business after her parents passed away.

She said that when she received the message, she was moved to tears: 'It was like being contacted from the past. It like jumped up off the page at me. And I was like that's my father's writing. That is my father's writing!'

She told CBS she thinks her dad wrote the message to tease his business-savvy wife.

The bottle made it 2,000 miles all the way to the island of Turks and Caicos where message-in-a-bottle-collector Clint Buffington found it - and returned it to sender.

Mr Buffington, who runs the website messageinabottlehunter.wordpress.com, told CBS News: 'A message from the past like this carries special weight. And I'm just really glad to be part of that I guess.

'Personally, the biggest motivation for me is meeting these people who are total strangers and finding out their stories.'

Ms Pierce learned of the message when a reporter from Seacoast online contacted her.

When asked what her mother would have done if someone had come knocking looking for their $150, Paula said: 'She would stand there with hands on her hip and say "now wait a minute". She would get a laugh out of it, but she would certainly not pay them any money.'





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