Woman discovers world's oldest message in a bottle from 1876 while walking along Jersey Shore - complete with fascinating handwritten message

A greetings paper designer stumbled upon what is believed to beryllium nan world's oldest connection successful a vessel while stepping on nan Jersey Shore.

Amy Smyth Murphy, 49, was strolling on a formation astatine Corson’s State Inlet successful Ocean City erstwhile she spotted an different looking vessel astatine nan water's edge.

'I conscionable thought, "This is truthful peculiar. What is this?''' Smyth Murphy told the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

After immoderate research, she managed to find that nan connection successful a vessel apt dates backmost arsenic acold arsenic 1876 - which would make it nan oldest artefact of its kind.

Most intriguing was a hardly legible, handwritten statement recovered wrong nan vessel which reads: 'Yacht Neptune disconnected Atlantic City, New Jersey. Aug. 6 - 76.'

Based connected her research, Smyth Murphy now believes nan '76' is simply a reference to nan twelvemonth 1876, erstwhile nan statement is thought to person been written.

'It took america I would opportunity possibly 48 hours to really understand what it said, but if you look astatine it agelong enough, you tin benignant of commencement to spot it,' Smyth Murphy explained. 

She began her inquiries by looking astatine nan vessel itself, which bears nan branding Barr & Brother Philadelphia.

According to valuation tract Worthpoint, nan institution apt produced nan glassware betwixt 1870 and 1900.

The adjacent task was to cautiously pluck retired nan statement which was scrolled up wrong nan bottle, which her niece did utilizing a corkscrew and immoderate tweezers.

Inside, Smyth Murphy recovered a business paper for a good known Philadelphia instrumentality institution called W.G. & J Klemm making love to nan 1800s. 

On nan backmost was nan handwritten note, referencing Yacht Neptune.

'I would emotion to find who was sailing connected nan ship, who was nan captain, wherever was it going? Was it for pleasure? Was it business? All those types of questions,' Smyth Murphy said.

She uncovered a Philadelphia Inquirer article from 1874 which names Captain Samuel Gale of Atlantic City who had 'just built a splendid yacht, which he christened "Neptune," aft nan Neptune Club of this city.'

Neptune was a celebrated pleasance cruise which drew scores of daytrippers acknowledgment to Gale's charismatic persona, according to his obituary.

'We are getting person to uncovering retired who wrote nan statement and who threw nan vessel successful nan ocean,' Smyth Murphy said successful a TikTok.

But nan puzzle is not complete for her yet and Smyth Murphy has contacted nan Guinness Book of World Records to effort and verify her theory.

According to nan organization, nan existent grounds for nan oldest connection successful a bottle dates backmost to June 12, 1886 and was group adrift by German captains aboard nan Barque Paula and recovered astatine Wedge Island, Australia successful 2018.

'From nan reactions truthful acold that I've had, everyone really likes nan enigma of it,' Smyth Murphy said.

'Let's spot really overmuch info we tin get retired of this 1 vessel and nan history of it and really it connects to Philadelphia and South Jersey.'