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AN adorable message in a bottle written by two schoolkids has washed up on a beach 32 years later.
The tattered letter from 1992 left a family in “tears” after its contents re-appeared at the “perfect” time.
The decades-old message in a bottle was thrown into the Atlantic ocean as part of a school projectAdam Travis
The lost message finally turned up on a beach last weekAdam Travis
The son of the schoolteacher responsible for the project said it moved him to ‘tears’Adam TravisThe long lost message was written by two children in Long Island for a school project led by Earth Science teacher, Richard E Brooks.
Encased in a green bottle, it was finally discovered on February 1 at Shinnecock Bay – roughly 16 miles up the coast from where it was dropped decades earlier.
Scrawled messily in pencil, the message read: “Dear Finder, As part of an Earth Science project for 9th grade, this bottle was thrown into the Atlantic Ocean near Long Island.
“Please fill in the information below and return the bottle to us … Thank you, Shawn and Ben.”
It was dated October, 1992.
The bottle was found by Adam Tarvis, 32, who lives on Shinnecock Reservation and saw it poking out of a pile of rubbish on a beach.
“I just happened to look over my shoulder when I was walking along the marsh and from the last big flood storm you could see all the debris that washed up and the bottle was just sitting right on top,” he said.
He broke the bottle to read the message inside and immediately saw it was connected to Mattituck High School and posted the images on their alumni Facebook group.
The story quickly gathered attention and Brook’s son, John, 56, saw it.
He responded to the Facebook post: “Oh my goodness…I’m in tears and so emotional.
“Dad truly loved doing this activity with his students, and this is such a welcome reminder and appropriate remembrance!! Thank you so much for posting!!”
But the lucky find came at a bittersweet time for John and the rest of his grieving family.
The beloved schoolteacher died in September from Alzheimer’s and his youngest daughter, Heather, 49, unexpectedly died in her sleep only weeks later.
“That’s what makes this situation so surreal,” John told The New York Post.
“Over the years, there have been times where we’d hear about bottles being found, but this is the first time that I can remember in the last 10 years.
“The timing of it, it’s just so perfect. It gives us something heartwarming.”
One of the letter’s co-writers, Benny Doroski, who also saw the post, wrote: “Mr. Brooks was an awesome teacher. What a fun project. Can’t believe it was 32 years ago.
“I really want to meet who found this bottle!!”
Tarvis has connected with the Brooks family online and plans to return the letter personally.
John, who is a disabled Navy veteran, said his father was “born to be a teacher” and loved getting his students involved in all kinds of fun projects.
“That’s why he did the message in a bottle project,” he recalled.
Brooks had taught 9th grade Earth Science at the school for nearly 40 years, while also teaching football, volleyball, running and sailing.
His students also included his four now grown up kids.
Although the bottle seemed to have stayed close to Long Island, John has a suspicion it had been on a far longer journey.
“My gut tells me that this bottle probably went all the way around the Atlantic and then made its way home,” he said.
In July, The Sun told of how a builder knocked down a fireplace and was stunned to find a message in a bottle from nearly a century ago.
Dan Dafforn, 32, was working on the family house when he discovered two secret messages.
One was a hand-written history of the house from 1931 – and a newspaper cutting from 1926.
And in January last year, a message in a bottle found its way back to its original sender 37 years after it was thrown in the ocean.
The note, long lost to the sea, finally got back to Troy Heller, now 47, after it washed back up on a Florida beach and a couple tracked him down.
Facebook/John Brooks
Mattituck High School Alumni
English (US)