That time an 85-year-old message in a bottle made its way to a WWI soldier's daughter
Wikimedia CommonsA German prisoner helps British wounded make their way to a dressing station near Bernafay Wood, following fighting on Bazentin Ridge, July 19, 1916, during the Battle of the Somme.
On September 9, 1914, well into World War I, Private Thomas Hughes was well on his way to the front lines of battle. Traveling on a boat, he managed to write a brief message to his wife, which he then placed inside of a sealed ginger beer bottle and dropped it into the English Channel:
Also attached was a covering note intended for the finder of the bottle:
Two days later, he was killed.
More than 85 years had passed - Hughes' wife and two year old daughter eventually made their way to New Zealand.
According to BBC News, it wasn't until fisherman Steve Gowan caught the bottle in 1999 that the message resurfaced. Traveling to New Zealand, Gowan managed to deliver the heartfelt message to Hughes' daughter, Emily Crowhurst.
Crowhurst explained, "It touches me very deeply to know ... that his passage reached a goal … I think he would be very proud it had been delivered. He was a very caring man."
Dubbed the 'Great War', the number of casualties sustained during WWI was so high that the exact figure is still in dispute. Through the muck of trench warfare and the shell-shock from constant artillery barrages, it almost seems impossible to imagine any good resulting from the daunting campaign; which is why stories such as this should last - just like Hughes' message in the bottle.