A message in a bottle discovered on a New Jersey beach may be the oldest ever discovered, NJ.com reported.
Amy Smyth Murphy, 49, was taking a hike through Ocean City’s Inlet State Park when she came across a weather-beaten, green-hued glass bottle with “Barr & Brother Philadeplhia” etched onto the surface. Corked inside were a business card, dated 1876, and a handwritten note.
The Guinness World Records holder for the oldest message in a bottle found goes to one found in 2018 near Wedge Island in Western Australia. That bottle was determined to have been cast off in 1886, News.com.au reported, which would make Murphy’s discovery older by a decade.
Murphy has applied to Guinness to have her discovery appraised, but she’s not particularly concerned with its coronation. “It’s just so interesting to be connected to people in this way,” she told NJ.com.
The business card was embossed with “W.G. & J. Klemm,” for William and John Klemm. They were two brothers who ran a furniture company in Philadelphia until 1881. The handwritten note referenced a yacht called “Neptune,” which was well-known amongst locals for its docking spot in Atlantic City. It was captained by Samuel Gale who, Murphy discovered through her own extensive research, lived in Atlantic City until the late 1800s.
@asmythco Did one of the Klemm brothers write the note? @newspaperscom #messageinabottle #mystery
♬ original sound - A Smyth Co
“I really like the mystery. I love the research,” Murphy said. “The smell that came out of [the bottle] was unbelievable,” she said, like “the bay smell times one million.”
Murphy made the astonishing discovery a few months after an extensive beachfill operation which experts say likely unseated the bottle from the ocean floor. “They dredge up things,” said Steve Nagiewicz, a maritime history and marine archeology professor at New Jersey’s Stockton University. “Some of them just get stirred up and float around the ocean, and I think that’s what happened in her case. Those ocean currents can do some amazing things.”
As Murphy awaits a response from Guinness, she and the rest of her family have been digging into the bottle’s history, documenting their finds in a series of TikTok videos. “It’s been really fun kind of doing it all together,” said Murphy’s brother, John Smyth.
Guinness World Records did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Men’s Journal.
