Norwegian Teens Find Decades-Old Message in a Bottle from English School

A group of teens on a Norwegian beach stumbled upon a real blast from the past—a message in a bottle, tucked under a rock about 10 meters from the shore in Ny-Hellesund. Fourteen-year-old Hedda Traa Haukom and her cousins made the discovery, and curiosity got the better of them. Haukom described the bottle as "pretty old," so of course they pried it open to check out its mysterious contents.

Inside was a note without a name, year, or address—just a simple plea: "To the finder, Please return this bottle to Bolton County Grammar School, Bolton, Lancashire, England. And they will receive one pound or the equivalent in Francs. Written on the Channel Boat. Thank you!" If only all lost-and-found situations came with a reward in multiple currencies!

Some detective work reveals the note is at least 42 years old. The school it referenced changed names in 1982, so this bottle has been riding the waves for decades. The teens guessed it may have been tossed into the sea during a school trip to France—clearly someone’s geography homework went a little off-course.

Bolton County Grammar School’s own history is a journey: opened as Bolton Higher Grade School in 1881, it bounced between locations and names, finally becoming Withins School in 1982 before closing for good in 2009. Its replacement, Bolton St. Catherine's Academy, now stands in its place. Talk about a school story with more twists than your average message-in-a-bottle voyage.

This is hardly the only time bottled messages have washed up to surprise modern-day beachcombers. Just last year, archaeology students in Normandy found a handwritten note in a salt bottle dating back to 1825 (clearly, the original sender wasn't counting on instant replies). And in Massachusetts, two brothers recently found a 1976 note in a vintage Pepsi bottle and managed to track down the original author, a former ninth-grader. Turns out, bottles may not be the fastest way to send a message, but they sure make for epic reunions.

Haukom and her cousins hope to find the author of their bottle as well, to let them know their message made it—eventually—across the decades and the sea. Something tells me that pound reward might not cover postage these days, but the story is priceless.