Message in a bottle tossed off Jersey Shore 54 years ago found in Bahamas
A message in a bottle thrown overboard back in 1971 off the Jersey Shore was found earlier this year on a remote island in the Bahamas.
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What's in a message?
How about 50 years of history.
And for a Monmouth County family, it meant beloved memories of their late captain of the "Miss Belmar."
A message in a bottle thrown overboard back in 1971 off the Jersey Shore was found earlier this year on a remote island in the Bahamas.
By pure chance and luck, singer and songwriter Clint Buffington, on vacation from Utah, spotted what appeared to be a very special sealed bottle in the Southern Bahamas back in March, 50 to 100 feet away from the water.
“I looked down and there’s this kind of gap in the bushes and walked through and there was this bottle, clear as day, Dr. Pepper label facing the sky. I could immediately tell it was old and saw that brown paper inside and just knew,” said Buffington.
Then, the puzzle began. Who wrote it? Where did it come from? Clint took to Instagram, telling his story.
“The message itself says sent off fishing boat Miss Belmar 90 miles east of Belmar Inlet, and that name there is John Forsyth,” Buffington narrated during an Instagram video post.
Word soon reached Alan Shinn, the captain and owner of Miss Belmar, who contacted John’s sister Kathy, who then checked her late brother’s written logs. John passed away three years ago after retiring from a life of working on and around boats.
“In 1971, it says in 1971, they went out to the canyon and they were 90 miles offshore, so that’s when I said one plus one equals two,” said Kathy Forsyth.
The bottle likely got picked up by the North Atlantic Gyre, a looping current that took it on a journey from Hudson Canyon, to Europe, off Africa and to the Bahamas.
Before becoming captain, John Forsyth was a mate on the Miss Belmar, and at 18 years old, the note was launched.
“He was here first thing in the morning because he enjoyed being here so much,” said Alan Shinn.
“Knowing my brother, he finished his lunch, he said, 'Aha,' wrote a note, stuffed it in there and just went 'Boop,' and I’m like there was no thought behind it,” said Forsyth.
For Buffington, it was his 140th found message in a bottle, the oldest one to date.
“Whatever path my life took me down, I happened to be in the right place on the right day. If we hadn’t decided to turn back looking on that beach,” he said.
“Of all the people who could find it, his level of excitement is coming right through from my brother for sure. I’m so glad Clint found it,” added Kathy.
Buffington said he wants to return the message he found in the bottle back to the Forsyth family, but he doesn’t want to put it in the mail.
Alan offered Clint and his whole family a free all-expense paid trip to Belmar so he could do that in person.
