Scuba Diving Instructor Finds 99-Year-Old Message in a Bottle From WWII Veteran

For centuries, people have slipped notes into bottles and set them adrift, hoping that their words might one day be discovered by a stranger. In June 2021, Jennifer Dowker—a boat captain and scuba diving instructor who runs Nautical North Family Adventures in Cheboygan, Michigan—was cleaning the windows of her glass-bottom boat on the Cheboygan River when she noticed a small green bottle resting on the seabed below. Inside, she found a message written almost 100 years ago, dated November 1926.

The message read, “Will the person who finds this bottle return this paper to George Morrow, Cheboygan, Michigan, and tell where it was found?” Dowker posted her discovery on social media, and within days, Michele Primeau, the daughter of George Morrow, reached out. She immediately recognized the handwriting as her father’s and believed he had written the message when he was around 18 years old.

Dowker and Primeau connected over Zoom, and Primeau also sent Dowker photos of her father when he was 18, around the time when he wrote the message. “Michele told us she would love if we displayed her father’s note and bottle for all our passengers to see,” revealed Dowker. “So this is exactly what we plan to do. The name ‘George Morrow’ will live on in the shop of the Yankee Sunshine.”

Dowker and Primeau finally met in person aboard Dowker’s boat in September 2021. Primeau brought one of her father’s old journals, filled with memories from his service as an ordnance officer during World War II. In an entry dated April 25, 1945, he described visiting the Nuremberg stadium where Hitler had once delivered his infamous speeches, just days before the war in Europe came to an end.

In June 2021, Jennifer Dowker—a boat captain and scuba diving instructor—discovered a message in a bottle dating back to 1926, written  by an 18-year-old named George Morrow.

Dowker later met with Michele Primeau, George Morrow’s daughter, who helped piece together the story of the man behind the message.

Jennifer Dowker / Nautical North Family Adventures: Facebook | Instagram

Source: Who’s ready for scuba?

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Emma Taggart

Emma Taggart is a Staff Writer at My Modern Met. Originally from Northern Ireland, she is an artist now based in Berlin. After graduating with a BA in Fashion and Textile Design in 2013, Emma decided to combine her love of art with her passion for writing. Emma has contributed to various art and culture publications, with an aim to promote and share the work of inspiring modern creatives. While she writes every day, she’s also devoted to her own creative outlet—Emma hand-draws illustrations and is currently learning 2D animation.
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