A message in a bottle travelled all the way from the Bahamas to be found by a group of Lathallan schoolchildren.
Pupils of the Perthshire fee-paying school were on holiday together at the Isle of Coll, in the Scottish Hebrides, when they found the bottle on Cliad Beach.
Siblings Robbie and Evie Kefford bumped into fellow pupils Alba, Kenna and Forbes MacLachlan on the beach, along with friend David Elder who also attends the school.
The group were overjoyed when they found the bottle on October 13 and opened it up to reveal a letter from Patrick Handrigan, from Canada, and two of his business cards.
Patrick was 18 years old when he tossed the bottle into the sea from a cruise ship near the Bahamas, on August 27, 2018.
Alba, 9, from Fordoun, Aberdeenshire, said: “When we got to the beach my mum did a walk with my little brother and found the message in a bottle.
“We took it to the car and tried to take the lid off but it was wet and ripping.
“When we did get it open it was really smelly because they didn’t clean out the wine bottle before putting the letter in and it had been in the water for three years.”
David, also 9, from near Brechin, says the bottle had goose barnacles on it, which look like small worms with shells on the end.
He added: “We don’t know if it was in the water all that time or lying on the beach for a couple of years because the water is really rocky around there so it might have got smashed in the water.”
There was a phone number on one of the business cards, which one of the children’s parents used to contact Patrick.
He found a video of himself throwing it into the water all those years ago to send to the children – and the story of the bottle’s discovery was picked up by a Canadian news channel.
Evie, also 9, from St Cyrus, said: “It was really exciting. We didn’t know what it would be – it’s made us want to send a message out to sea.”
Those at the school said that being an “eco-conscious” school, they would look into other ways of doing that which are environmentally friendly.
Message in a bottle discovered!
Lathallan pupils Robbie, Evie, Alba, David, Kenna & Forbes found this treasure on Cliad Beach while holidaying on the Isle of Coll.
The owner, Patrick Handrigan was 18 when he tossed the bottle into the sea from a cruise ship off the Bahamas. pic.twitter.com/gM8bKU1LTD
— Lathallan School (@LathallanSchool) October 28, 2021
