FORTEAU, N.L.
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
CANADA
A message in a bottle from Nova Scotia has taken four years to be discovered along the beaches of southern Labrador.
During a hike along a beach just outside of Forteau, Jeinean Barney said her daughter Abigail discovered a bottle containing a message from Pugwash, N.S.
The message was found in what Barney believes was a Jones soda bottle.
The letter is stained green and portions have been washed away due to saltwater entering the bottle.
In fact, it cuts off just as the authors start discussing who they are, leaving their identities a mystery.
The first few sentences reveal the letter was sent from Pugwash in the midst of Hurricane Arthur in 2014.
“Dear Strangers, We are writing to you on the 5th day of July 2014,” it reads. “We are sailing this to you from a beach in Pugwash on the western Northumberland shore. Today Hurricane Arthur hit us with full gale force winds.”
From there, the letter is only partially legible.
“Many trees have fallen and we [illegible] for our dead patriarchs. We write this letter to you in the dim candlelight. [Illegible]. A little bit about ourselves. We are two…”
At that point it cuts off and only parts of words can be made out.
Based on the information it provides, Barney is uncertain whether the authors are from Pugwash or whether they were merely passing through the Nova Scotian community.
On the day they found the letter, Barney posted it to social media in an effort to find out who wrote it. Since Monday, it’s received nearly 70 retweets on Twitter and over 200 Facebook shares.
But as of Wednesday evening, no one had come forward.
Barney frequently walks the beach to collect different items for art projects.
“I go there every day because I do sea glass art,” she told the Northern Pen.
She says she was looking for driftwood with her sister and daughter when the message was found.
“It was pretty awesome,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to find a message in a bottle. Now, if we could only find out who sent it.”
Barney plans on keeping the letter and hopes it’ll get more shares online.
