Update P2 Garandshooter got BOTH letters from the sea that I posted in bottles!!!!

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Update P2 Garandshooter got BOTH letters from the sea that I posted in bottles!!!! (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 1/5/2006 6:37:21 AM EDT

Wrote 2 letters to GarandShooter in Afghanistan, put them in bottles. They are to be cast into the sea along the East Coast with instructions to the finder to drop them into the mail for me.

Let's see what happens.

2 clear plastic bottles, stuck a $1 in the bottom to draw attention. Nothing draws attention faster than money. Added the letter wrapped in instructions to slice open the bottle and post the letter.

Because my tour was ending, I gave the bottles to a trusted skipper(former Warrant Officer) with orders to drop one off the Jersey Coast in a day or so, and the other into Mass Bay. He's not scheduled to make a Boston area run but he knows someone who is. He'll see to it that they're launched inside the next week or so, weather permitting.

A few years ago, I used to shoot a message in a bottle every coast run I did with my addy and phone in it, and IIRC, about 50% of them were answered. I even got on an old lady's Christmas card list for a number of years.

If you guys are interested, I'll update this as things happen.

Posted: 1/5/2006 8:09:51 AM EDT

[#1]

woo-hoo this is going to be way cool if it works!

Thanks!

Posted: 1/5/2006 8:29:58 AM EDT

[#2]

You bet we're interested.

Going to be a while before a confirmation update though, I am sure.

Posted: 1/5/2006 8:33:10 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
Because my tour was ending, I gave the bottles to a trusted skipper(former Warrant Officer) with orders to drop one off the Jersey Coast in a day or so, and the other into Mass Bay. He's not scheduled to make a Boston area run but he knows someone who is. He'll see to it that they're launched inside the next week or so, weather permitting.

Interesting, but I would think the one in the bay wouldn't get OUT of the bay, and the one off the Jersey coast will just wash up on a beach somewhere on the US coast. Why not dump them mid-ocean so they can go either direction?

Posted: 1/5/2006 8:33:54 AM EDT

[#4]

tag - awesome idea

Posted: 1/5/2006 8:54:16 AM EDT

[#5]

and people were saying we ran out of stuff to talk about

Posted: 1/5/2006 9:02:27 AM EDT

[#6]

Or you will get fined for littering.

Posted: 1/5/2006 10:40:08 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
Or you will get fined for littering.

Don't laugh!

The reason I quit doing this years ago was because I had one of my messages answered by some clean up volenteer in New Jersey threaten to report me for littering the NJ coastline.

I pointed out that the bottle was part of a scientific experiment(bullshit) and had been jettisoned at sea beyond the NJ coastal border and that nature brought it to New Jersey.

While I doubt that anyone would prosecute, it left a bad taste in my mouth so I stopped doing it.

As for dropping it off mid Atlantic, I work the East Coast.

Also, Mass bay is a pretty good chunk of water, mostly surrounded by beaches, hence recovery conditions are better than average.

As for dropping the bottle off the NJ coast, IIRC, some of them washed ashore on Jersey and a couple of them were recovered off the beach somewhere on Long Island. One of them actually was found by someone just a short distance from a casino in Atlantic City. The guy had just lost and (he told me) finding the bottle made his luck change enough so he won back his losses and went home having broken even.

Posted: 1/5/2006 10:47:38 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
The reason I quit doing this years ago was because I had one of my messages answered by some clean up volenteer in New Jersey threaten to report me for littering the NJ coastline.

I think littering is the least of Jersey's problems.

Posted: 1/5/2006 10:56:38 AM EDT

[#9]

Tag, Great Idea!

Posted: 1/5/2006 11:07:24 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Quoted:
The reason I quit doing this years ago was because I had one of my messages answered by some clean up volenteer in New Jersey threaten to report me for littering the NJ coastline.

I think littering is the least of Jersey's problems.

Yeah, so they would love to fine you for littering to help fund the fixing of other problems.

Posted: 1/5/2006 11:07:29 AM EDT

[#11]

Good idea!!

Posted: 1/5/2006 11:09:09 AM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
2 clear plastic bottles, stuck a $1 in the bottom to draw attention. Nothing draws attention faster than money. Added the letter wrapped in instructions to slice open the bottle and post the letter.

ummm, excuse me, my liege, where exactly did you put the instructions "to slice open the bottle"...???

Posted: 1/5/2006 11:10:43 AM EDT

[#13]

tagged

Posted: 1/5/2006 11:19:39 AM EDT

[#14]

I'm interested...keep us posted.

Posted: 1/5/2006 11:20:44 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
[
ummm, excuse me, my liege, where exactly did you put the instructions "to slice open the bottle"...???

I put the instructions on the paper that wraps around the letter. The bottle is clear, so you can read it.

The reason to slice the bottle open is so you don't tear up the letter trying to pull it out of the bottleneck with a pair of pliers or tongs.

Posted: 1/5/2006 11:25:40 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
You bet we're interested.

Going to be a while before a confirmation update though, I am sure.

IIRC, the fastest reply I ever got was 3 days from bottle launch to answering machine message. Jersey coast launch that floated ashore. I think it was a case of us hugging the beach because of NW winds.

Longest? over a month. Launched somewhere between Cape May and A.C. and washed ashore on Long Island. I think it got ashore LONG before it was found by anyone.

Posted: 1/5/2006 11:32:25 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Quoted:
ummm, excuse me, my liege, where exactly did you put the instructions "to slice open the bottle"...???

I put the instructions on the paper that wraps around the letter. The bottle is clear, so you can read it.

The reason to slice the bottle open is so you don't tear up the letter trying to pull it out of the bottleneck with a pair of pliers or tongs.

ahhh, i was having visions of the trojan rabbit...

cool idea, by the way!

Posted: 1/7/2006 8:42:14 AM EDT

[#18]

Update.

Got a call from the skipper I left both bottles with. Both launched. One off the Jersey Coast somewhere between Cape May and AC, the other went in pretty much between the Cape Cod Canal and the entrance to Boston Harbor.

my guess for the NJ bottle is that it'll reach Long Island inside a week. Just a guess. Might wash ashore on Jersey.

The Boston one should land on a beach along Boston's South Shore, but it very well may wash up on the inside of Cape Cod somewhere.

If any of them wash ashore on a sandy beach, the it's a slam dunk they'll be picked up because there's ALWAYS someone walking on the beach at all hours.

I will be somewhat surprised if we hear from anyone for at least 4-6 days(if at all)

All my guesses are just that: Guesses. Who knows, the damned thing could get scooped up by a giant tarodactyl and flown off to Antartica or somewhere.

Posted: 1/7/2006 9:07:58 AM EDT

[#19]

tag

Posted: 1/7/2006 9:16:05 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
tag

Posted: 1/7/2006 10:25:52 AM EDT

[#21]

Another tag

Posted: 1/7/2006 12:32:37 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
Quoted:
The reason I quit doing this years ago was because I had one of my messages answered by some clean up volenteer in New Jersey threaten to report me for littering the NJ coastline.

I think littering is the least of Jersey's problems.

I would have been funny to drop another saying exactly that

Posted: 1/8/2006 3:10:57 AM EDT

[#23]

Tagged. Piccolo's posts often turn 'interesting'....

Posted: 1/8/2006 3:23:55 AM EDT

[#24]

It takes form 1-2 weeks for mail tp get in country, and another 2 days-2 weeks for it to reach us here at the FOB... so at the fastest I may see it in 9-10 days, at worst 4 weeks.

Posted: 1/8/2006 4:22:31 AM EDT

[#25]

Litterbug! [finger]

Dr. Curtis C. Ebbesmeyer has a newsletter about doing that sort of stuff, as well as tracking other neat things that fall off ships:
www.beachcombers.org/
IIRC, he teaches oceanography at one of the Seattle-area universities, with an interest in ocean current tracking or some such. His newsletter sometimes has information on where to find the latest cargo of Nike shoes that fell off yet another container ship.

Posted: 1/8/2006 4:25:59 AM EDT

[#26]

Posted: 1/8/2006 4:35:23 AM EDT

[#27]

Wouldn't...it...be...easier...and...quicker...to...just...drop...them...in...the.............mailbox?

Posted: 1/8/2006 4:47:16 AM EDT

[#28]

GM

Posted: 1/8/2006 5:27:57 AM EDT

[#29]

You should have done the www.wheresgeorge.com thing on the dollars.

Posted: 1/8/2006 5:47:52 AM EDT

[#30]

taggage

Posted: 1/8/2006 5:51:19 AM EDT

[#31]

tag

Posted: 1/8/2006 5:54:49 AM EDT

[#32]

tag

Posted: 1/8/2006 6:07:22 AM EDT

[#33]

I did a similar thing about 10 years ago.
Threw in 10 bottles from Dover, England.
Three bottles were found.
One was found in France and surprisingly, two were found close together in Denmark by the same lady.

Posted: 1/8/2006 9:27:20 AM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:
Wouldn't...it...be...easier...and...quicker...to...just...drop...them...in...the.............mailbox?

it's more fun this way.

Anything to be different and difficult.

Posted: 1/13/2006 7:11:10 PM EDT

[#35]

retag.

my curiosity is killing me.

Posted: 1/13/2006 7:15:57 PM EDT

[#36]

.

Posted: 1/13/2006 7:18:29 PM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:
All my guesses are just that: Guesses. Who knows, the damned thing could get scooped up by a giant tarodactyl and flown off to Antartica or somewhere.

Uh, FYI, tarodactyls nest in the Arctic.

Posted: 1/13/2006 7:27:55 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
Quoted:
All my guesses are just that: Guesses. Who knows, the damned thing could get scooped up by a giant tarodactyl and flown off to Antartica or somewhere.

Uh, FYI, tarodactyls nest in the Arctic.

Excet bisexual ones and on alternate Thursdays, they run off with Kim, who is married to Jake who's seeing Louise who is married to Tom who is living with Suzanne who is also screwing the milkman on the side but it's all OK because Suzanne is planning to get on the Jerry Springer Show...........fuck it.

Let's not let the facts get in the way of a good story that belongs on the supermarket tabloids or on E!.

Posted: 1/13/2006 7:42:06 PM EDT

[#39]

tag

Posted: 1/17/2006 5:39:42 PM EDT

[#40]

bump for updates.

Posted: 2/10/2006 11:00:03 AM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:
bump for updates.

rebump.

Posted: 2/10/2006 11:03:08 AM EDT

[#42]

I meant to tag this the day you posted it. I'm glad you bumped it back.

Posted: 2/10/2006 11:12:06 AM EDT

[#43]

tag

Posted: 2/10/2006 11:14:28 AM EDT

[#44]

curiosity tag

Posted: 2/10/2006 11:31:32 AM EDT

[#45]

Tag cuz I like Pic's stories muchly

Posted: 2/10/2006 11:32:00 AM EDT

[#46]

tag

Posted: 2/12/2006 5:27:26 AM EDT

[#47]

UPDATE!!

Got both letters today! One was found in NJ, one in MA. The one found in NJ had a note that said "When I found this my luck changed...bad!"

Definitly the coolest letters I have ever gotten, and everyone in the unit got a real kick out of it!

Posted: 2/12/2006 6:01:21 AM EDT

[#48]

Way coo!!

Posted: 2/12/2006 6:11:34 AM EDT

[#49]

That's fantastic

GM

Posted: 2/12/2006 9:24:11 AM EDT

[#50]

Quoted:
UPDATE!!

Got both letters today! One was found in NJ, one in MA. The one found in NJ had a note that said "When I found this my luck changed...bad!"

Definitly the coolest letters I have ever gotten, and everyone in the unit got a real kick out of it!

My GUESS is the NJ one was probably found near Atlantic City by someone that went there to gamble.

BTW, what are the postmarks?

I got one I sent off the Jersey coast back once with an AZ postmark. They probably found it on the beach and took it home and posted it from there.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Update P2 Garandshooter got BOTH letters from the sea that I posted in bottles!!!! (Page 1 of 2)

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