Oldest Message in a Bottle Found After 132 Years (Lost at Sea and Found) | Smartest Year Ever (June 1, 2025)

What’s the oldest confirmed message in a bottle ever found? And what story did it carry across time, tides, and oceans?

In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy dives into the real-life discovery that stunned maritime historians, scientists, and Guinness record-keepers alike. From the windswept shores of Western Australia to the decks of a 19th-century German barque, this story spans centuries of ocean drift, scientific ambition, and the strange human urge to connect through glass and ink.

Whether you’re into maritime mysteries, forgotten experiments, or just love a story that starts buried in the sand and ends in the history books, this one’s for you.

👇 Sources below, and don’t forget to stay curious.

Sources:

• Western Australian Museum. (n.d.). Messages in bottles database. https://museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/messages-bottles
  

• Guinness World Records. (n.d.). Oldest message in a bottle. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com
  

• Smithsonian Magazine. (2018). The Science of Messages in Bottles. https://www.smithsonianmag.com
  

• Poe, E. A. (1833). MS. Found in a Bottle.
  

#messageinabottle #worldrecord #oceans #funfacts #dailyfacts  #MaritimeHistory #BottleMessage #WeirdHistory #OceanMysteries Music thanks to Zapsplat.