Message in a Bottle Sent From Ireland in 2019 Washes Up on New Jersey Beach
A message in a bottle sent all the way from Ireland has washed up on a North Wildwood, New Jersey beach.
Frank Bolger was out with his wife Karen and their granddaughter doing a customary trash pick-up before their beach day. Bolger originally thought the bottle was trash, but upon closer inspection he recognized its value. “We were walking on the way back, we were right on the water's edge and [I saw] a clump of seaweed, and I saw the bottle and I was getting ready to throw it out and I noticed there was a note in it,” Bolger told News 12.
“We had to take it home to get the note out, it was jammed in the bottle so tightly,” Bolger explained to Irish Central. He told them the find was ironic, as North Wildwood “has a huge Irish-American population.”
The note reads: “Greetings from Ireland. I have thrown this bottle into the sea for someone to find another day. Maybe it's traveled down to Africa or to Iceland! I won't know if someone found this, but I hope it is found!” It is dated July 17, 2019 and signed “Aoife,” a female name pronounced ee-fah. Next to her name is the helpful moniker “note writer.”
Bolger has never been to Ireland, but his family did emigrate from there to the U.S. in the mid-1800’s. He reached out to Irish Central on Tuesday in the hopes of finding Aoife. The entire Bolger clan is excited to show her how far the bottle traveled, even if it didn’t make it to Africa or Iceland.
The Wildwood Sun shared photos of the find on Facebook, helping the story go viral. With any luck, technology will soon unite the Bolgers and their penpal.
