After Daniel Knopp, then 14 years old, threw a message in a wine bottle from his cabin balcony on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas just after the ship had departed Freeport in the Bahamas, he went about the business of growing up and never thought any more about it.
Until now. Five years on, the bottle has turned up in Perranporth, Cornwall, having completed a 4,000-mile journey across the Atlantic.
It was found by local resident Tony Hoskins, who spent seven weeks trying to find the author of the note, which read:
"Hello, my name is Daniel Knopp. I am on a cruise ship. I hope whoever reads this finds great joy. God bless. I live in the Baltimore/DC area."
Internet searches and a call to the local paper in Cornwall all did the trick. The Baltimore Sun was contacted and finally Daniel, now 19 and at university in Maryland, was tracked down.
It's a great story, but not something I'd recommend others try. Throwing stuff from balconies on cruise ships is a big no-no these days - imagine lazing on your balcony and having a bottle appear from above! - and we are supposed to be keeping the seas clean, you know.
Jane Archer
