A few weeks ago, I felt the urge to draw a “message in a bottle” themed set of numbers. I drew a glass bottle bobbing in the ocean. Inside was a piece of paper with that day’s water temperature written on it. I was happy with the drawing, except for one thing, the bottle looked more like a vase than a bottle. It was short and stubby, with a wide rounded neck tapering to a narrower shape at the bottom. It looked odd, but it was too late to make a change.
Not long after that, I was walking along the beach not far from the numbers when I noticed something lying in the sand. It was a glass bottle. I remember chuckling to myself and thinking what a wonderful coincidence it would be if it turned out to be a “message in a bottle”. As I drew closer, I could see there was something inside the bottle – could it possibly be… I picked up the bottle, which was heavier than normal, and immediately recognised it. It was the same shape as the bottle I had drawn! My heart started to pound when I brushed away the sand and saw a piece of paper with a typed message on it.
I sat down and started to read the message. It was written by two brothers, Kevin and Nigel Graham and it told the story of their parents, Michael, and Loretta Graham. Apparently, their father Michael was a nautical man who spent his early years with the Merchant Navy posted in the Far East. In the 1950’s he met a young woman on a ship travelling in the South China Sea. Her name was Loretta, and she was aboard the HMS Taiyuan on a return journey from Australia. Michael and Loretta fell in love, married, and settled in Hong Kong. In the 1960’s they moved to the UK, where they remained for the rest of their lives, never living far from the sea. In their later years their great joy was sailing the oceans together to destinations in every corner of the globe, from the Norwegian Fjords down to Antarctica, and from Australia and New Zealand to the Baltic.
Michael died in 2012 and Loretta in 2021. Before letting them rest, Kevin and Nigel wanted to send their parents on one final journey together, sailing the Seven Seas to wherever the currents might choose to take them.
They put their parent’s ashes into several bottles and launched them at different times from various locations around the world. The locations, each of which had a special meaning for their parents, included Hong Kong (where the family lived), Shanghai (where Loretta was born), Southwold in the UK (a lovely old town on the Suffolk Coast they were very fond of), Lowestoft (a UK coastal port where Michael served as Harbour Master) and Castle Point, a much-loved stretch of coastline on the North Island of New Zealand.
I thought this was a wonderful story and sent a note out to the local community on Instagram to let them know of my discovery. Judging from the response, it seemed everyone was as excited as I was!
Kevin and Nigel left their contact details on the note, so I sent them an email to let them know I had found the bottle and to ask what they would like me to do next. In a return email, they explained that our bottle was in fact the sixth and final bottle to be launched and it had only been launched the day before from Bondi Beach. Instead of heading out to sea as they had hoped, the bottle must have made a sharp left turn after leaving Bondi and headed straight up to Manly (who can blame it?).
Despite the attractiveness of Manly, the brothers were keen to try to relaunch the bottle. I agreed to find out what options they had to do that. I sent out a second message on Instagram asking if anyone knew how best to relaunch the bottle. I was inundated with ideas and offers to help. Some were brilliant, though a little expensive (chartering a helicopter), but all were well intentioned and showed a generous spirit.
Amongst the responses was a message from a local Manly Sea Captain in control of a ship somewhere near Antarctica. Knowing the coastline well he told me the best solution was to take the bottle several nautical miles offshore and relaunch it in the prevailing South Easterly current. This current would initially take the bottle down towards Victoria and then make a left turn up into the Pacific Ocean (Kevin and Nigel were thrilled to hear of this as their parents had always wanted to travel to Hawaii).
So, we now knew what to do, but how were we going to get the bottle out there? In comes our hero Olly. A young diver based at the Middle Harbour Yacht Club, Olly generously offered to take the bottle out to the current. A successful relaunch, however, was very weather dependant. It required the wind direction, tides, swell size etc. to be “just right”. Whilst conditions for the next few days did not look good, Olly identified a possible window of opportunity the following Monday morning. So, at 8am that morning we headed out to sea in search of the current. Despite having to navigate his way in a small rib through pounding seas, Olly managed to locate the current six nautical miles (ten kilometres) due east of Sydney Heads.
We stopped the boat and spent a few moments taking in the view and the occasion. Olly then gently plopped Michael and Loretta into the Ocean. The current immediately took the bottle and carried it away from the boat at speed. As it drifted away Olly and I noticed something very special. A large black bird majestically swooped down and started to circle the bottle. It continued to circle the bottle as it floated out to sea and out of sight. It was as if the bird had been waiting for us to hand Michael and Loretta over to it. Was it now their guardian, responsible for protecting them on the next part of their journey?
We started the boat and headed back to Manly.
In the pre-dawn dark, every day, Guy takes the water temperature at Manly, and illustrates his findings with chalked artistic majesty upon a concrete canvas where the South Steyne boat ramp meets the sea. His Instagram @temperature_guy_manly is a must follow.