'Oldest ever' message in a bottle discovered in New Jersey

A woman has found what could be the oldest message in a bottle ever discovered.

During a morning walk at Corson’s Inlet State Park in Ocean City, New Jersey, Amy Smyth Murphy happened to come across a green-colour corked bottle.

Inside the bottle, Smyth Murphy noticed there were pieces of paper which appeared to be a business card possibly from 1876 along with a handwritten note, NJ.com. reported.

The bottle itself has the words “Barr & Brother Philadelphia" on it which is a business from the mid-1800s.

The business card inside the bottle referred to "W.G. & J. Klemm" a pair of brothers William and John Klemm who ran a gentleman’s furnishing goods company in Philadelphia which dissolved in 1881, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s newspaper archives.

The archives also established that one of the papers mentioned a local yacht called “Neptune" which was captained by Samuel Gale and the vessel was docked in Atlantic City in the late 1800s.

So putting all this information together, Smyth Murphy's theory is that this message in a bottle ended up in the ocean around 146 years ago.

If this is the case, this would be a new Guinness World Record as the oldest message in a bottle.

That is a title which is currently held by Australians Tonya and Kym Illman who found a gin bottle at Wedge Island from 1886 - 10 years later from the time Smyth Murphy believes her bottle is from.

Of course, Smyth Murphy is seeking to get this vetted and verified by the Guinness World Records.

“It’s just so interesting to be connected to people in this way,” Smyth Murphy told the publication about the discovery.

Taking to TikTok, Smyth Murphy (@asmythco) has been sharing with her followers the contents of the bottle and the research she and her family have been undertaking to learn more about its origins.

Opening a bottle that is nearly 150 years old, unsurprisingly has quite a stench.

"The smell that came out of it was unbelievable,” Smyth Murphy said who described it as “the bay smell times one million".

"We were not prepared for that.”

Steve Nagiewicz, who teaches maritime history and marine archaeology at Stockton University explained how the bottle could have broken free from the ocean floor due to a multimillion-dollar beach fill in the Ocean City area.

"They dredge up things, and some of them don’t go into the hopper bar,” Nagiewicz told NJ.com.

"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."

We'll have to wait and see if Guinness World Records say the bottle is the new record-holder...

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