By Beth David, Editor
Fairhaven’s shores gave up two fun tidbits in recent weeks. At the end of June, Jane Brayton of Wilbur Point found a message in a bottle from a seven-year-old Pennsylvania girl. And last week, Harbormaster Tim Cox found a note in a bottle that presumably had been tossed into the Atlantic in 2013.
Ms. Brayton found her bottle on the beach at Wilbur Point and called the phone number inside. The message said that whoever found the message would have good luck.
“This is from a girl and a mother,” wrote Jocelyn.
im and Jocelyn on the Cliff Walk in Newport, RI, where they tossed the bottle into the ocean. Photo courtesy of Katie West.
Jane said that she and Jocelyn and her mother Katie West had a fun conversation about all kinds of things when they connected by phone.
Jocelyn told the Neighb News that a family friend had given her the note, the bottle, and a chart, a veritable message-in–a-bottle kit. She said they talked about currents and threw the bottle from “The top of a hill.”
Turns out that hill was part of the Cliff Walk in Newport, RI, where Jocelyn and her mother were visiting their friend Jim, who gave them the kit some time before.
“I told a lot of people about it,” said Jocelyn, who recommended that others try it, too. “Because it was really fun.”
She said that after she threw the bottle in the water, she looked around to see if it had come back, but, she never spotted it again.
About a month later, Ms. Brayton found it and made the call.
“Thank you so much for doing it,” Ms. Brayton told Jocelyn. “It was a such a fun thing to do.”
“It was the nicest surprise,” said Ms. West, Jocelyn’s mother. “It just made our summer.”
“It was a really neat gift, and the fact that it came back is amazing,” said Ms. West. “It uplifted a lot of people around here, too. I’m just tickled by it.”
After receiving the call from Fairhaven, Ms. West posted it on Facebook: “The best part was, she (Ms. Brayton) was as excited as we were. It is the little things I suppose! :)”
When Jocelyn gets back to school, this week, her what-did-you-do-on-vacation essay (do they still do that?) will definitely include the bottle.
“It’s going to be one of my stories,” said Jocelyn with certainty.
Mr. Cox’s find, however neat it may be, did not include any contact information, unfortunately. The note in the bottle simply said “Block Island 2013,” inside a Polar Root Beer bottle.
Mr. Cox said he will keep it on his desk as a good luck charm/paper weight. •••
Another note in a bottle, this one found by Habormaster Tim Cox last week. Unfortunately, that one had no contact info in it. Photo by Beth David.
Click to download the entire 8/18/16 issue: 08-25-16 AnimalOpenHouse
