Fishermen find century-old postcard in a bottle in Baltic

upi ^ | March. 8, 2014

[JoeProBono]

BERLIN, A postcard dated May 17, 1913, and found in a bottle by German fishermen appears to be the oldest such message ever found.

Konrad Fischer, captain of a fishing boat from Schleswig-Holstein, told Kieler Nachrichten, a local newspaper, that he was about to throw the bottle back in the sea when someone told him it was not empty, the Local.de reported.

"When I saw the date I got really excited," he said.

The postcard, from Denmark, had German stamps on it. It was signed by Richard Platz and addressed to his own home in Berlin with a message asking the finder to put it in the mail.

The Guinness Book of World Records lists the oldest previous message in a bottle as 97 years, found in 2012.

Fischer said his previous finds during his 50 years as a fisherman have been more alarming, including mines, bombs, torpedoes and a body.

[JoeProBono]

Berlin -A message in a bottle has been pulled from the sea by fishermen a record-breaking 101 years after it was sent. A German called Richard Platz scribbled his note to the world on May 17, 1913 – one year before the First World War, in which he died. It was a postcard from Denmark with two German stamps on it and a message asking the finder ‘to post it on to my address in Berlin’. More than a century on, it was found by a crew from the north German port of Heikendorf, near Kiel. ‘When I saw the date I got really excited,’ said skipper Konrad Fischer. The oldest message in a bottle listed by Guinness World Records was found in 2012 – 97 years after it was sent.

[House Atreides]

I MUST let Richard know that someone finally found his bottle.

[BenLurkin]

Fascinating, cool and sad — all at the same time!

[Pontiac]

I’ll send and SOS to the world

[a fool in paradise]

And the message? "PLEASE DON'T LITTER!"

Now you know the rest of the story.

[martin_fierro]

Ich bin ein phialwinner.

[JoeProBono]

[blueunicorn6]

And in other news.

Fred Finkelman of Fargo found a gold lamp. He rubbed it and a genie appeared. The genie said, “Fred, can you mail this postcard for me?” and went back inside the magic lamp. Fred melted down the lamp and made some lovely bling chains.

[blueunicorn6]

That is my Uncle Bill and his friends Fast Steve and Eddie The Weasel. They pull this same stunt every year.

[RIghtwardHo]

So VERY cool!

[JoeProBono]

[miliantnutcase]

Those guys look like actors playing fishermen. Seriously, they look too authentic.

[lowbridge]

Faster than the usps.

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[nuconvert]

Ha. quite a crew there

[Rome2000]

They’re going to need a bigger bottle

[gusopol3]

I’m thinking hoax also.

[tflabo]

I’m hearing in the background Elvis singing, ‘Return to sender, address unknown, no such number, no such home’.

[Husker24]

The cigar was a perfect touch.