After 76 Years,Old Message Was Delivered In Bottle

Many years back, our main source of travel was through sea route. Ships were the only hope to travel very far distances and at the same time there were many shipwrecks due to unfavorable climatic conditions in the sea. Many ships missed their their destinations. Many people died in the shipwrecks without saying a Good- Bye to their relatives. 

Still today many people in their old age now waiting long believes that their loved one will come back one day from their journey. A man among the people who was unable to say good-bye to his loved ones before dying in the shipwreck wrote a message which was delivered after 76 years!!!

In New Zealand, a person named Geoff Flood was walking along a beach then he found a bottle, he noticed that inside the bottle was an old envelope with the letterhead of P&O and a ship’s name, SS Strathnaver. The envelope was dated March 17, 1936.

In the note it is written as follows-

 "At sea. Would the finder of this bottle kindly forward this note, where found, date, to under mentioned address. H. E. Hillbrick, 72, Richmond Street, Leederville, Western Australia."

Flood tracked down the address and discovered that the writer was Herbert Hillbrick who had passed away in 1940. However, Flood did get in contact with Hillbrick’s grandson, Peter Hillbrick, who lives in Perth, Australia. The grandson said that he had never met his grandfather, but indeed confirmed that Hillbrick had been aboard the SS Strathnaver in 1936.

Peter Hillbrick told to the local media that, "The only connection I have with Grandfather is now that bottle. That’s about all. So, it’s a fascinating story."

It is said that- 

          H.E. Hillbrick was sailing on board named SS Stanthnaver, a British Royal Mail Ship, preordained to carry people from England to Australia and vice-versa in the 1940s. The Ship got trapped in a flood in the middle of the sea. Death was unavoidable. Mr. Hillbrick, left helpless, tossed a note in a bottle in the sea  hoping his message would get delivered to his family. 

Later Peter Hillbick donated the bottle to a maritime museum in New Zealand.