American finds Nova Scotians' message in a bottle on Bahamian beach
Byron Miller was recently walking on a beach in the Bahamas and spotted something. A thought went through his head.
"Can't be another note in a bottle," said the vacationer from Ocracoke Island, N.C.
This was the third bottle he had found on a beach in Manjack Cay, Bahamas. But unlike the others, this one was originally tossed from a boat off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Tucked inside the wine bottle was a Ziploc bag containing a note with six names on it and some geographic co-ordinates. Four of the names were fully spelled out, but the last names for the other two were cut off.
Miller turned to Facebook to find the bottle-droppers. Noticing several of the names turned up results for people from Nova Scotia, he was sure he'd found a match.
The bottle likely travelled in a clockwise direction, latching on to different ocean currents, before reaching its final destination in the Bahamas. (Ryan Snoddon/CBC)
Miller, 54, contacted them and learned they were fishermen from southwestern Nova Scotia. On their way back from cod fishing in July 2016, they placed the bottle between Georges Bank and Browns Bank.
Pierce Atwood is one of the six fishermen who was on the boat that day. The fishermen live within 50 kilometres of each other in Shelburne and Yarmouth counties.
Atwood said they've placed other bottles while fishing.
Byron Miller of Ocracoke Island, N.C., found a message in a bottle on a recent vacation to the Bahamas. The bottle was placed in the water in 2016 by a fishing crew from Nova Scotia. (Submitted by Byron Miller)
He said he's surprised the bottle travelled for that long and didn't get broken or wash up somewhere it wouldn't be found.
"Some people would have just picked up the bottle and thought it was trash and not even bother to open it, so it is crazy that this happened the way it did," he told CBC News in a Facebook message.
CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon said the bottle most likely hitched a ride on the Gulf Stream, taking it into the centre of the North Atlantic, along the eastbound North Atlantic current.
The note listed the names of the six fishermen who put the bottle in the water, as well as geographic co-ordinates of where they dropped the bottle. (Submitted by Byron Miller)
From there, it likely began its trip southward, along the Canary Current in the Eastern North Atlantic. Eventually, while nearing the equator, the bottle would have headed back westbound along the North Equatorial current and into the Bahamas.
MUST SEE: N.B. park visit turns into a foam party thanks to strong winds
While Miller found his latest bottle on the north end of the Manjack Cay beach, he said his previous finds were on the southern end. His previous finds were originally tossed from a French warship off the coast of Senegal and from a ship off Portugal.
These are the fishermen who placed the message in a bottle. From left are Jimmie Atwood, Brett Sears, Pierce Atwood, Joey Atwood and Alex Huskins. Missing from the photo is Brian Pothier. (Submitted by Pierce Atwood)
Miller suspects the bottle only landed there recently because of the storm surges that hit the beach from previous hurricanes like Dorian in 2019 and Ian in 2022.
"Knowing how that was, I can just about guarantee that that bottle had not been on that beach before then because if it had been, it would have been pushed a whole lot further inland," he said.
This is the Manjack Cay, Bahamas, beach where Miller found the bottle. (Submitted by Byron Miller)
Thumbnail courtesy of Byron Miller via CBC.
This article, written by Richard Woodbury, was originally published for CBC News.
