BUCKET LIST UPDATE – No. 61: Release a message in a bottle

This bucket list item was inspired by a story by Ben Raines that ran in the Jan. 7, 2012 edition of The Mobile Press-Register. Titled “Note place like home: Messages in bottles find their way back to original owner,” the story was about a message in a whiskey bottle that washed up on Sand Island.

According to the story, this message in a bottle was released on Dec. 29, 2011 by Bruce Reynolds of Clinton, Miss. It was found about a week later on Jan. 5, 2012. As it turned out, this bottle was one of about 50 that Reynolds has released since the 1950s. He began releasing messages in a bottle ever since he found one himself as a small boy. In all, he’s gotten responses from about 30 of them, and some of them made it as far away as the Texas-Mexico border and Boca Raton, Fla. He noted that he often places a dollar inside the bottle with his message.

I spent about a week preparing my message in a bottle. The first problem I faced was selecting a bottle. I eventually settled on an empty Miller High Life beer bottle with a metal screw-down cap. To make sure that it would float, I tested the bottle by placing it in a kitchen sink full of water. It passed with flying colors.

I then used a dishrag and my wife’s nail polish remover to scrub off the label. All of it wouldn’t come off though, despite my best efforts. The industrial-strength adhesive was just too strong. I ended up having to use my trusty pocketknife to scrape off the rest of the label, giving the bottle a nice, clean look.

After typing up my message on an 8-1/2 by 11-inch piece of paper, I folded it and sealed it inside of a small, waterproof Ziplock bag. I then tight-rolled the message and bag and slipped it inside the bottle. The message bag unrolled a bit, but not much.

Next, taking a cue from Reynolds, I slipped a $5 bill inside the bottle. From my way of thinking this serves two purposes. It makes the bottle more eye-catching and will hopefully cover the costs of the finder getting in contact with me.

I then placed the cap on tightly and observed my handiwork. It was then that it dawned on me that the bottle’s metal cap could corrode away over time and could cause the bottle to sink. To prevent this scenario, with the cap firmly on, I dipped it in melted candle wax five or six times over the course of about two hours. I hope that this will provide a good watertight seal over the cap, but not a seal so strong that someone can’t get inside the bottle.

In the end, this was a fun, little project. How many of you have ever prepared and released a message in a bottle? How did you do it? How did you prepare the bottle? When and where did you release it? Did you ever get a response? Let us know in the comments section below.