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Boy Finds 24-Year-Old Message in a Bottle

Letter was written by 5-year-old German boy in 1987

By the Associated Press

Posted Mar 31, 2011 6:24 AM CDT

(AP) – There's no romance and no Kevin Costner, but nearly a quarter-century after a German boy tossed a message in a bottle off a ship in the Baltic Sea, he's received an answer. A 13-year-old Russian, Daniil Korotkikh, was walking with his parents on a beach when he saw something glittering in the sand. "It looked interesting," Korotkikh said. "It looked like a German beer bottle with a ceramic plug, and there was a message inside." His father translated the German, which read: "My name is Frank, and I'm five years old. My dad and I are traveling on a ship to Denmark. If you find this letter, please write back to me, and I will write back to you."

The letter, dated 1987, included an address in the town of Coesfeld. The boy in the letter, Frank Uesbeck, is now 29. His parents still live at the letter's address. "At first I didn't believe it," Uesbeck said. In fact, he barely remembered the trip at all; his father actually wrote the letter. But Daniil will "definitely get another letter from me," the 29-year-old said. "It's really a wonderful story."

In this Friday, March 11, 2011 photo Daniil Korotkikh shows a letter he found on a beach in Morskoye, Russia. The 13-year-old was walking with his parents when he saw something glittering in the sand.
In this Friday, March 11, 2011 photo Daniil Korotkikh shows a letter he found on a beach in Morskoye, Russia. The 13-year-old was walking with his parents when he saw something glittering in the sand.   (AP Photo/Komsomolskaya Pravda, Viktor Guseinov)
In this Friday, March 11, 2011 photo Daniil Korotkikh holds a bottle with a letter he found on a beach 50 miles northwest of Kaliningrad, Russia.
In this Friday, March 11, 2011 photo Daniil Korotkikh holds a bottle with a letter he found on a beach 50 miles northwest of Kaliningrad, Russia.   (AP Photo/Komsomolskaya Pravda, Viktor Guseinov,)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 5 comments
Sir_Cancelout
Apr 1, 2011 5:46 AM CDT
If you get a kick out of "message-in-a-bottle" stories, here's another one reported last year involving 21 years and an 80 mile stretch of the Nishnabotna river in western Iowa: http://www.carrollspaper.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=284&ArticleID=10727
Spudsy
Mar 31, 2011 9:41 AM CDT
This is way cooler than your cutting edge cell phone.
MDK
Mar 31, 2011 7:28 AM CDT
Someone finally found The Police's message! Sting must be so happy.

Copyright 2013 Newser, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.

 

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