Appeal for help to solve 40-year mystery over message in a bottle from Sunderland found in the Caribbean

American musician Clint Buffington runs a website called Message in a Bottle Hunter (www.MessageInABottleHunter.com).

It shares true stories of messages found by people including himself. One of his finds prompted him to get in touch with the Sunderland Echo.

Clint, who lives in Indiana, said: “For a few years, I have been absolutely stumped by a message in a bottle I found in the Caribbean that was sent by someone from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear (possibly on a cruise?). I believe the message to be quite old - from at least the 1980s, but more likely the 1970s.”

He added: “I think we are all just in need of some happy news these days, and I am hopeful that the quest to solve this message in a bottle could provide a little joy. And if we are lucky, my hope is that it will have a very happy ending!”

More details of the bottle with Wearside origins can be found at https://messageinabottlehunter.com/1970s-message-bottle-from-sunderland-tyne-wear-found/

Clint said he suspects ‘that the message in a bottle had been sailing the high seas for decades when I found it – perhaps since the 1970s’

He added: “Glass soda bottles with metal caps like this haven’t been common since the 1980s. This particular shape struck me as more like a 1970s bottle.”

The details on it show that the author’s name begins with Bar and appears to be no more than 6-8 letters long.

The surname begins with “Sy…” and appears to be quite short. It could be Syd, or Sykes, or Symes, or even maybe as long as Sydney.

The last bit of information is the street address. I cannot see a number, but the name of the street appears to begin “Tow…” and could be any of Sunderland’s “Tower Roads” or possible “Townsend” or something along those lines.

“Based on current street names in Sunderland, I think the following are the streets most likely to match the message:

Toward Road, Tower Street, Tower Street West, Townsend Road, Townsend Square.”

To get in touch with Clint, contact him at www.Facebook.com/MessageInABottleHunter or Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themessageinabottlehunter/

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