It took 58 years to discover a message in a bottle which was released in 1956.

The bottle, which scientist Dean Bumpus released from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, has been discovered by biologist Warren Joyce in Canada. It travelled nearly 300 miles in the Atlantic Ocean from where it started its journey. The bottle was found in a pile of debris, but for Mr Joyce, it was no less than a treasure.

The Associated Press reported that the bottle was one of the thousands others which were dumped in the Atlantic Ocean from 1956 to 1972. It was a part of Mr Bumpus' research of surface and bottom currents. Around 10 per cent of those 300,000 bottles have already been discovered over the years.

Mr Joyce discovered the drift bottle on Jan 20. It was on Sable Island which is around 185 miles in the southeast of Halifax. He was quick to contact scientists who were working at Woods Hole. He was responsible enough give them the information Mr Bumpus had wanted, as mentioned in the postcard in the bottle. Mr Bumpus also promised in the message that the person responsible for returning the bottle would get a reward of a 50-cent piece.

Mr Joyce said in a good humour that he was not willing to accept the reward, but it was already on the way. According to Mr Joyce, 75 per cent of the surface of the bottle is sand-blasted. However, it was still possible to read the message: "Break This Bottle." When the rubber stopper was pried off, a note was found inside. Mr Bumpus explained in the note that the bottle was one among many others released in the ocean for research purpose.

The number of Mr Bumpus' postcard was used to track the release date of the bottle. It was April 26, 1956 when the bottle was released to the ocean. Around 270,000 bottles are still to be found. Mr Bumpus passed away in 2002.

window.NREUM||(NREUM={});NREUM.info={"beacon":"beacon-3.newrelic.com","licenseKey":"f118e6cce8","applicationID":"2546004","transactionName":"ZlNUMEdSWUsAVkReW18ZYxZcHFVRGxpAW0FWX1gXGlZTURVaQhheQlVEDUVHRBcVXF5Oa1xVU0tFX0JfCFtDGERQRUIBGlFbWQ9eHl9AXA==","queueTime":0,"applicationTime":0,"ttGuid":"","agentToken":"","userAttributes":"","errorBeacon":"jserror.newrelic.com","agent":"js-agent.newrelic.com/nr-309.min.js"}

// -->