A bottle released by Kenneth Hatfield Jr. of Stoney Island turned up 18 years later with the note still intact on the shores of Grand Manan Island. KRISTY WAYBRET GREAR/THE COAST GUARD
Message in a bottle turns up 18 years later
By KRISTY WAYBRET GREAR
The Coast Guard
A lost memory of 1988 washed up along the shores of Grand Manan Island Nov. 4.
Eighteen years ago, Kenneth Hatfield Jr. of Stoney Island set out on the Billy Rose for a fishing trip off Browns Bank when boredom over took him that day.
Hatfield decided to send a message in a bottle off to sea.
"I let this bottle go on the fishing grounds of Browns Bank June 23, 1988. Who so ever finds this note contact Kenneth Hatfield Jr. Stoney Island Shelburne Co. Nova Scotia. $10 reward."
Amazingly, the glass Pepsi bottle with the note still safely inside was in good condition when Barry Russell, a local, found it along the shores of Grand Manan Island while deer hunting. Russell, who didn't notice the note stowed away inside passed the bottle to a friend.
Joan Hodgkins, who collects bottles to fund a native Quechua in the mountains of Bolivia spotted the letter while sorting the bottles and contacted Hatfield.
The well-preserved bottle left all three parties in shock.
Hodgkins said, "I can't believe after all of these years it stayed in such good condition.?
When Hatfield was contacted by Hodgkins he was surprised, to say the least.
H responded: "I can't remember doing it; it kind of shocked me when they called."
Hatfield said he would be sending the $10 reward to Hodgkins as a donation to her and her husband’s Bolivian missions.
