Could This Be The Oldest Message In A Bottle?

dated back to 1886,

 the bottle was found by Tonya Illman on a remote beach in Western Australia, after she and her husband Kym removed the note in the bottle and dried it out in the oven they discovered it came from a German ship, the note in the bottle, which was dated 12 June 1886, was jettisoned from the German ship Paula, as part of an experiment into ocean and shipping routes by the German Naval Observatory, when they saw the date they thought it was "too far-fetched" to be real, Mr Illman said - but they researched the bottle online and took it to experts at the Western Australian Museum, Dr Ross Anderson, Assistant Curator Maritime Archaeology at the WA Museum, confirmed the find was authentic after consulting with colleagues from Germany and the Netherlands,

"Incredibly, an archival search in Germany found Paula's original Meteorological Journal and there was an entry for 12 June 1886 made by the captain, recording a drift bottle having been thrown overboard. The date and the coordinates correspond exactly with those on the bottle message," Dr Anderson said, the handwriting on the journal, and the message in the bottle, also matched, he added, for the full story have a look here, the oldest message in a bottle, until someone finds an older one!