Message in a Bottle Found

A family cleaning Wharton Beach in Australia discovered a message in a bottle that had been sent 109 years earlier by two World War I soldiers, Malcolm Alexander Neville and William Kirk Harley.

The letters, written in 1916, revealed Neville was from South Australia. He was killed in France a few months later and Harley survived and returned home.

Using Facebook, finder Debra Brown connected with both soldiers’ descendants, including Neville’s great-nephew and Harley’s grandchildren. The said it as if their ancestors had “reached out from the grave.” The bottle likely washed ashore and remained buried in the sand for over a century.

Sometimes Facebook is a beautiful thing!

Lana Backman