How long can a message float in a bottle if thrown into the ocean?

Imagine being caught in a desertIsle. Perhaps you even have a bottle of rum with you that you managed to drink safely. Suddenly you find a piece of paper, a pen and decide to do the last that you can. You write a letter asking for help, put it in an empty bottle and throw your last hope of salvation into the vast ocean. What do you think, how long will it take to find the bottle and save you? An answer to this question can help a case that occurred in Alaska just a few days ago.

How long can a bottle swim in the ocean?

Despite the fact that such a way of communication is notIt seems particularly reliable, our ancestors who do not have access to modern communication methods, had to be content with little. So, the famous navigator Christopher Columbus sent the latest news to the Spanish queen Isabella using exactly the “bottle Telegram”. Although far from all the messages of Columbus were caught from the ocean, some of them did indeed reach the addressee.

Columbus was not the only one who was activelyused bottles to convey useful information. Even the English Queen Elizabeth I was not opposed to talking in such an interesting way, who appointed a whole post with a simple and understandable name - “Opener of ocean bottles” to read out sea messages. Most likely, inspired by the example of the great, the modern inhabitants of some Indonesian tribes still use a similar “technology” for communication among themselves.

Some Indonesian tribes still use the “bottled” mode of communication.

Even though an air-filled bottlecan drift in the ocean for a very long time, the chance to be found in it is not so great. So, in the 19th century, 1980 bottles were sent to the ocean off the coast of Scotland in 1980 to study underwater currents. Inside each glass bottle were written notes on giving rewards to all who discovered an unusual find. However, despite the possibility of receiving a generous prize, of the 1980 bottles, only 315 were found.

Christopher Columbus was not the only lover to talk with bottles

What are bottled messages used for now?

Although the transmission of messages throughbottles and ocean currents have long been outdated, in our time this method is still used as the only way to contact land in disasters.
Although, as in any rule, there are exceptions.

By the way, if you are too lazy to go to the sea and throw a bottle, but want to chat with like-minded people, then you may well try to meet in the comments on Yandex.Zen

In 1957, a Swedish sailor named Ake Vikingsent a bottle with a note to the ocean with the goal of ... getting to know! In his letter, the sender asked the girl who found the bottle to answer his message and send his photo. It would seem that the seaman's chances were void, but something happened that Ake himself did not expect. Incredibly, the girl from Sicily Paolina Pozzo responded to the letter of the sailor. As it should be in fairy tales, a romantic relationship began between the characters, which grew into a wedding.

Be that as it may, evidence thatmessages in a bottle are still used as a means of communication; it can be found in an unusual find made in Alaska by a certain Tyler Ivanoff. According to the BBC news service, it turned out that the found bottle with a message inside was sent on a long voyage by a sailor aboard the Russian ship Sulak on June 20, 1969. The author of the letter was sea captain Anatoly Botanenko, who was 86 years old when the bottle was found.

Heartfelt greetings! On behalf of the Russian fleet and the Far Eastern Shipping Company, I welcome everyone who found this bottle from the Sulak sub-base! I ask you to respond to this appeal to the city of Vladivostok to the entire team of the Sulak sub-base. We wish you good health, long life and happy sailing. June 20, 1969.

In order to find its reader, the message went to the shores of Alaska for the whole 50 years

Well, anyway, if this articlecaused you a clear desire to throw a bottle into the ocean in the hope that someone would find it, then I hasten to assure you that you can send your message and communicate with each other not only using such outdated communication methods, but also using modern methods much more environmentally friendly. For example, chatting on our Telegram chat.