98-year-old message in bottle sets world record

LONDON - The Associated Press

his undated photo made available Thursday Aug. 30, 2012, by the Scottish Government, showing a message in a bottle discovered by fisherman Andrew Leaper, which set a new world record for the length of time spent at sea, beating the previous record by more than five years. AP Photo

It was scooped up from the sea after 98 years, and now officials say a message in a bottle discovered in Scotland has set a world record.
 
Fisherman Andrew Leaper found the bottle- released in 1914 - in his nets in April while sailing east of the Shetland Islands, which lie off Scotland’s northern coast.
 
Guinness World Records confirmed Thursday the find is the oldest message in a bottle ever recovered, beating a previous record by five years.
 
It was released in a batch of 1,890 bottles in a government experiment to map the undercurrents of the seas around Scotland.

Inside each bottle, a postcard asks the finder to record details of the discovery and promises a reward of a sixpence. Unfortunately for Leaper, the coin no longer exists.