Bottle's 16‑year journey: Brazil to Australia discovered
A bottle with a message, thrown into the Atlantic 16 years ago, was recently discovered on a beach in Peterborough, Australia. Tony, a local resident who was walking along the beach in southwestern Victoria, made the discovery. The message, which journeyed thousands of kilometres across the ocean, sparked significant interest among internet users.
The bottle was thrown into the sea on 3 November 2008, about 50 kilometres from the coast of Brazil, between Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. According to the "Daily Mail", the author of the letter was an American, Joe Johnson, who would cast bottles into the oceans during his voyages. In the letter, he asked the finder to send the note back to the USA.
Johnson promised a reward of 20 dollars for the return of the letter, hoping to find out how far and how long the bottle had travelled. A resident of Towson, Maryland, he was surprised that his message reached Australia. "I don't remember this particular bottle," Johnson said in an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne.
An Australian found a letter from Brazil
The letter must have travelled many thousands of kilometres, as Rio de Janeiro is over 13,100 kilometres from Peterborough. Johnson, who admitted that he rarely receives information about the finding of his bottles, expressed surprise and satisfaction with this unusual discovery.
According to the "Daily Mail", in keeping with the promise he had previously made, the man decided to give Tony 20 dollars as a token of gratitude for finding the bottle. The gesture was intended to symbolise not only gratitude but also appreciation for Tony's honesty and effort in reading the message and contacting the sender.
The discovery stirred enthusiasm on social media. Users were fascinated by the bottle's journey and encouraged Tony to claim the reward. "It's amazing that it survived 16 years in the ocean," wrote one internet user. "If only this bottle could talk, it would tell an incredible story," added another.
