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<p>The concept of find a message in a bottle sound whimsical enough on its own. But finding <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5316457/Florida-couple-message-bottle-1980s-Britain.html" target="_blank">a message in a bottle</a> that was sent over 30 years ago from Scotland enters a whole different stratosphere of remarkable.</p><p><strong>This unlikely scenario is precisely what happened to Florida residents Ruth and Lee Huenniger when they happened upon a message in a bottle lying under a fence near the Atlantic Ocean. </strong></p><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Florida couple find a message in a bottle sent by a Forfar primary school <a href="https://t.co/Knv60g7M1W">https://t.co/Knv60g7M1W</a> <a href="https://t.co/fMgYuzmOlL">pic.twitter.com/fMgYuzmOlL</a></p>&mdash; BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCScotlandNews/status/956914393635278849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p><strong>The message itself was sent in the 1980s by a class of students from Forfar, Scotland who were learning about pirates. </strong></p><p>&quot;We are learning all about pirates. We would like to see how far this message goes. Please write and tell us where you found this bottle. We are class 213, Chapelpark Academy Street,&quot; the message reads.</p><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A message in a bottle, written in my home town of Forfar in the 1980s, has washed up 4,000 miles away in Florida. <a href="https://t.co/t9eCAdbkpM">https://t.co/t9eCAdbkpM</a> <a href="https://t.co/fsVHNZ2XXR">pic.twitter.com/fsVHNZ2XXR</a></p>&mdash; James Cook (@BBCJamesCook) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCJamesCook/status/957011855708323840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p><strong>Surprisingly well preserved, the Huennigers were not only able to read the decades old message, but they were able to decipher the return address and send a return letter.</strong></p><p>The letter&#39;s paper was covered in transpaseal to preserve it from water damage.</p><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Message in bottle&#39;s 30-year journey from Forfar to Florida <a href="https://t.co/2y5ftuePz7">https://t.co/2y5ftuePz7</a> <a href="https://t.co/YlRoKMIHcr">pic.twitter.com/YlRoKMIHcr</a></p>&mdash; STV News (@STVNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/STVNews/status/956863580896296961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p><strong>Ruth Huenniger detailed to <em>The Daily Mail</em> how they found the letter, and how promptly they wrote a letter.</strong></p><blockquote> <p>&quot;Lee found it after Hurricane Irma as he was checking for damage along a fence in our homeowner&#39;s association.It was a large plastic bottle, like a Coke bottle and it was frosted over and you could not see very well inside. Lee could not get the top off of it but saw a corner of the paper near the neck of the bottle. He was going to put in the recycle bin but decided to cut it open. It was several weeks maybe six before we received a response.We threw the original bottle out because we thought we were not going to hear anything else about the note.&quot;</p> </blockquote><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">After four decades at sea, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Scottish?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Scottish</a> pupils’ message in a bottle found in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Florida?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Florida</a> Keys <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidGoodhue?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DavidGoodhue</a> <a href="https://t.co/s2beu3zmoy">https://t.co/s2beu3zmoy</a></p>&mdash; David Goodhue (@DavidGoodhue) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidGoodhue/status/956650162834862086?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p><strong>The Forfar school&#39;s location changed in 2007, however, Huennigers&#39; letter still found its way to school staff. </strong></p><p>They received a letter back from recently retired teacher, Fiona Cargill, of Angus, Scotland. Cargill was pleasantly shocked by the letter, and managed to narrow the messages down to one of her classes from the 1980s.</p><p>She said:</p><blockquote> <p>&quot;It&#39;s amazing. I liked to teach a project on pirates because it helped develop a lot of different skills. One part of that would involve getting in groups, writing a letter and sending a message in a bottle out to sea and seeing if it ever came back.I believe it is one class of primary 2/3 in particular because one of the children was related to a trawlerman in Arbroath who would take the bottle in their boat and throw it a bit further out so that it was less likely to just wash back ashore. Unfortunately, I haven&#39;t been able to find the pupil who wrote the letter but looking back there&#39;s an error where they meant to write &#39;street&#39; which I found quite amusing. Stupidly, I forgot to get them to date the letter which really would have helped in narrowing it down.&quot;</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p><strong>A few former students from the school found the story online and shared their memories.</strong></p><p>This must be a total mind bender for them.</p><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">My old school - and my Dad was Head Teacher. He&#39;d have been chuffed! <a href="https://t.co/hOqX9beZPJ">https://t.co/hOqX9beZPJ</a></p>&mdash; John MacLean (@JohnMacLean2) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnMacLean2/status/957029461324595201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/BBCJamesCook?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BBCJamesCook</a> I’m freaking out right now. We did it with Ms Cargil (Miss Kettles) then. I’m in the class photo doing the rounds with the Dailymail link.</p>&mdash; Nairno Beat (@audiodrum) <a href="https://twitter.com/audiodrum/status/957026291202625536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The class picture was my primary 3 picture. We did it in our year, the first to attempt it. One of our bottles reached the Faroes, I think. Took a year. This one seems to be the class that did it after ours</p>&mdash; Nairno Beat (@audiodrum) <a href="https://twitter.com/audiodrum/status/957027586995081216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Great now I have the Police stuck in my head 🎶</p>&mdash; Timothy (@TimmyGeist) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimmyGeist/status/957012633726701568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Quite lucky they were just school kids having fun. If they had been real pirates awaiting rescue on a desert island, they would&#39;ve been pretty desperate by now.</p>&mdash; Tam fae Arc of Prosperity (@arcofprosperity) <a href="https://twitter.com/arcofprosperity/status/957028708904251392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>The story of finding this bottle truly exemplifies that one man&#39;s trash is another man&#39;s message in a bottle.</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

Florida couple finds message in bottle from 1980s Scotland.

Bronwyn Isaac

The concept of find a message in a bottle sound whimsical enough on its own. But finding a message in a bottle that was sent over 30 years ago from Scotland enters a whole different stratosphere of remarkable.This unlikely scenario is precisely what happened to Florida residents Ruth and Lee Huenniger when they happened upon a message in a bottle lying under a fence near the Atlantic Ocean. Florida couple find a message in a bottle sent by a Forfar primary school https://t.co/Knv60g7M1W pic.twitter.com/fMgYuzmOlL&mdash; BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) January 26, 2018 The message itself was sent in the 1980s by a class of students from Forfar, Scotland who were learning about pirates. &quot;We are learning all about pirates. We would like to see how far this message goes. Please write and tell us where you found this bottle. We are class 213, Chapelpark Academy Street,&quot; the message reads.A message in a bottle, written in my home town of Forfar in the 1980s, has washed up 4,000 miles away in Florida. https://t.co/t9eCAdbkpM pic.twitter.com/fsVHNZ2XXR&mdash; James Cook (@BBCJamesCook) January 26, 2018 Surprisingly well preserved, the Huennigers were not only able to read the decades old message, but they were able to decipher the return address and send a return letter.The letter&#39;s paper was covered in transpaseal to preserve it from water damage.Message in bottle&#39;s 30-year journey from Forfar to Florida https://t.co/2y5ftuePz7 pic.twitter.com/YlRoKMIHcr&mdash; STV News (@STVNews) January 26, 2018 Ruth Huenniger detailed to The Daily Mail how they found the letter, and how promptly they wrote a letter. &quot;Lee found it after Hurricane Irma as he was checking for damage along a fence in our homeowner&#39;s association.It was a large plastic bottle, like a Coke bottle and it was frosted over and you could not see very well inside. Lee could not get the top off of it but saw a corner of the paper near the neck of the bottle. He was going to put in the recycle bin but decided to cut it open. It was several weeks maybe six before we received a response.We threw the original bottle out because we thought we were not going to hear anything else about the note.&quot; After four decades at sea, #Scottish pupils’ message in a bottle found in #Florida Keys @DavidGoodhue https://t.co/s2beu3zmoy&mdash; David Goodhue (@DavidGoodhue) January 25, 2018 The Forfar school&#39;s location changed in 2007, however, Huennigers&#39; letter still found its way to school staff. They received a letter back from recently retired teacher, Fiona Cargill, of Angus, Scotland. Cargill was pleasantly shocked by the letter, and managed to narrow the messages down to one of her classes from the 1980s.She said: &quot;It&#39;s amazing. I liked to teach a project on pirates because it helped develop a lot of different skills. One part of that would involve getting in groups, writing a letter and sending a message in a bottle out to sea and seeing if it ever came back.I believe it is one class of primary 2/3 in particular because one of the children was related to a trawlerman in Arbroath who would take the bottle in their boat and throw it a bit further out so that it was less likely to just wash back ashore. Unfortunately, I haven&#39;t been able to find the pupil who wrote the letter but looking back there&#39;s an error where they meant to write &#39;street&#39; which I found quite amusing. Stupidly, I forgot to get them to date the letter which really would have helped in narrowing it down.&quot; A few former students from the school found the story online and shared their memories.This must be a total mind bender for them.My old school - and my Dad was Head Teacher. He&#39;d have been chuffed! https://t.co/hOqX9beZPJ&mdash; John MacLean (@JohnMacLean2) January 26, 2018 @BBCJamesCook I’m freaking out right now. We did it with Ms Cargil (Miss Kettles) then. I’m in the class photo doing the rounds with the Dailymail link.&mdash; Nairno Beat (@audiodrum) January 26, 2018 The class picture was my primary 3 picture. We did it in our year, the first to attempt it. One of our bottles reached the Faroes, I think. Took a year. This one seems to be the class that did it after ours&mdash; Nairno Beat (@audiodrum) January 26, 2018 Great now I have the Police stuck in my head 🎶&mdash; Timothy (@TimmyGeist) January 26, 2018 Quite lucky they were just school kids having fun. If they had been real pirates awaiting rescue on a desert island, they would&#39;ve been pretty desperate by now.&mdash; Tam fae Arc of Prosperity (@arcofprosperity) January 26, 2018 The story of finding this bottle truly exemplifies that one man&#39;s trash is another man&#39;s message in a bottle.