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24th Aug 2023

Message in a bottle for ‘Aoife’ from Ireland washes up on US beach

Simon Kelly

Somebody call Taylor Swift.

All of us have probably once in our life have chucked a message in a bottle into the sea, expecting to probably never hear about it again. But once in a while, you’ll find a story like this of one actually reaching the shores of another country.

The search is on for the Irish author of a message in a bottle found washed up on the shores of the US.

The message, which was penned by someone named ‘Aoife’, washed up on 14th Street Beach in Wildwood, New Jersey and was found by local resident Frank Bolger.

Bolger, who was walking along the beach with his wife and granddaughter found the bottle on August 17 while picking up rubbish.

The letter, which is dated 17 July 2019, reads:

“Greetings from Ireland. I have thrown this bottle into the sea for someone to find another day.

“Maybe it’s travelled down to Africa or to Iceland. I won’t know if someone found this, but I hope it’s found. Aoife.”

The city of Wildwood is approximately 5,038 km from Ireland’s most westerly point, Dunmore in Co. Kerry.

Mr Bolger, who was talking to RTÉ‘s Morning Ireland, said there was no address or contact info for ‘Aoife’ as he tried to find contact.

The Wildwood resident also added that his family came from Ireland to the US in the 1860s and that there is a large Irish community in the New Jersey city.

Let’s hope the search for whoever ‘Aoife’ is proves successful. Luckily it’s a rare enough name in Ireland…

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