Message in a bottle washes ashore along N.S. beach after nearly 60 years at sea

CTV Atlantic: Message in a bottle washes ashore A Nova Scotia family has stumbled across a real-life message in a bottle that’s been floating for more than 60 years. Bruce Frisko reports.

A Nova Scotia family has stumbled up a real-life message in a bottle that’s been floating for close to 60 years, as part of a clever promotional campaign for a well-known beer company.

Sarah Naugle of Vaughan, N.S., and her two children found the bottle at low tide at Bayswater Beach, just as they were heading back to the car.

“I noticed the top of a bottle sticking out of the seaweed,” said Naugle. “I picked it up and I noticed it was a full bottle, and there was a message inside. I couldn't believe it."

The bottle turned out to be a promotional item from the Guinness Beer Company, based in Ireland. The year was 1959, and the company dumped 150,000 bottles into the Atlantic from 38 ships.

Fifty-eight years later, the bottles are still turning up, complete with ad-writing from another era.

"In simple insomnia and nervous strain, Guinness accomplishes marvels," the message reads.

The bottle may have been one of thousands that were dropped, but others have turned up in the past. The company says bottles have washed ashore in California, South Africa, Wales and elsewhere.

"The possibility that this find could be from such a unique and memorable campaign is quite exciting. We look forward to validating the bottle's original documentation," said Guinness’s public relations team.

Some of the bottles are for sale on eBay, but the Naugle family has no intention of selling their artifact from the sea.

"Probably just put up on a shelf and admire it, and think about the memory of all of us being together,” said Naugle.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Bruce Frisko.