A 12-year-old girl in Sunderland was ‘over the moon’ to learn her message in a bottle had been found in Sweden.
Grace Liddle’s bottle took just under a year to make its way across the north sea and be discovered by 72-year-old Swede Freddy Stahlberg.
And just months before that, another message in a bottle thrown in the sea at the same time by Grace’s brother, Harry, now six, was found in Denmark.
The pair had both written their names and the contact details of their mother Christie Bowley on pieces of paper, put them in bottles and thrown them off Roker Pier in Sunderland on August 28 last year.
On March 6 this year, Christie, 35 received a message on Facebook to say Harry’s bottle had been found in Denmark.
While Grace was happy for her brother, she longed for the day her bottle would also be found, but was losing hope.
‘Grace was convinced hers sank and had taken a room up in the Titanic,’ Christie said.
But on August 3 Christie opened a message on Facebook from Freddy, who said he had found the bottle on an island on Sweden’s west coast, around 90 miles north of Gothenburg, call Pinnö.
The bottle had travelled more than 1,500 miles.
Freddy, who lives in nearby Grebbestad during the summer months and in Lund for the rest of the year, told PA News he found it on August 2.
He initially struggled to read the note as the paper had been damaged by salt water.
‘Our family tried our best to find words that were useful, and we were finally able to identify Christie’s name, a hint that she had a Facebook address, as well as the word Sunderland,’ he said.
‘With her name, I found her Facebook page, and looking at the iages there I could deduce that she lived in Sunderland, which was mentioned in the message in the bottle.
‘With this information at hand, I dared to send a message to Christie.
‘She replied some time later and we were all very enthusiastic about having solved the riddle.’
The retired university professor said he often goes on ‘treasure hunts’ with his grandson Edward Stahlberg, five, and the little boy was excited about the discovery.
Christie said: ‘(Grace) was really shocked, she couldn’t believe it because there was a very slim chance that Harry’s would be found, so when we discovered Grace’s had also been found she was absolutely over the moon.
‘They’ve both been found in the space of a year, you wouldn’t expect them to be found so soon – I think it just shows how small the world actually is.
‘I just think it’s a miracle, considering how big the sea is.’
Christie said she initially thought there was ‘no chance’ of the bottles ever being discovered further than the pier, because when her children first threw them out to sea, they started heading back to shore.
What added to the fun of the whole story, Christie explained, was the similarity between the names of the two people who found the bottle.
‘Harry’s bottle was found by a man called Frederik and Grace’s was found by someone called Freddy – it is just mad,’ she said.
She hopes she can take Harry and Grace to the spots where their bottles were found and the family has considered throwing more bottles into the Atlantic Ocean to see if they end up in the US.
In 2016 we reported on what was dubbed the ‘world’s worst message in a bottle’, found by 13-year-old Robbie Chappel in Hampshire.
He had been walking his dog when he spotted the bottle by Langstone Harbour and excitedly ran home to find out who it was from.
The teenager even got his dad to film the reveal but was somewhat underwhelmed to learn the note was from two blokes called Dan on a cocaine binge who had written the message the day before.
If you missed it, you can watch the video here.
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