Engineers discovered the cryptic message during repair work at Corswall Lighthouse this October. And at this point, they plan to write their own note for future generations to find.
In 1892, engineers installed a new lens and lantern on top of Corswall Lighthouse in Scotland, a massive project that took them an entire summer to complete.
After the team members finished their work and re-lit the lighthouse, they sat down at a table with a pen, inkwell, and a piece of paper. They wrote their names in italics and briefly described the project, then rolled up the paper and stuffed it into a glass bottle. They plugged the cap with an old cork wrapped with wire and stuck the bottle into a recess in the lighthouse wall.
There the message remained, unknown and forgotten for decades to come. But last month, engineers reappeared at the lighthouse to tackle repairs. While working on the historic structure, they came across a glass bottle with a note inside.
When the engineers took the note out of the bottle and read it, they were stunned. The team was working on the very lens described in the 132-year-old note. "It was a direct message from them to us," says Barry Miller, a lighthouse keeper, in an interview with Isabella Quay of the New York Times.
Fortunately, it was possible to read the entire text of the note:
"Corswall Light and Fog Signal Station, September 4, 1892."
This lantern was erected thanks to engineer James Wells, hammer-maker John Westwood, engineer James Brodie, laborer David Scott of the firm of Engineers James Milne and Sons, representatives of Milton House Works, Edinburgh. The work continued for months from May to September, and the lighthouse was lit again on Thursday evening, September 15, 1892.
The following caretakers were employed at the station at this time: John Wilson - Director, John B. Henderson - first assistant, John Lockhart - second assistant.
The lens and mechanism were provided by the engineers of James Dove & Co. at Greenside, Edinburgh, and erected by the engineers of the above firm - William Burness, John Harrower, James Dods."
Corswall Lighthouse is located at the tip of a peninsula in southwest Scotland, overlooking the Irish Sea and the mouth of Loch Ryan.
Founded around 1817 in the village of Kirkcolm, the lighthouse dutifully guided ships along the rocky coastline for two centuries. A keeper lived on site and ran Corswall Lighthouse until 1994 until the flashing light was automated.
Today it is monitored remotely from Edinburgh at the offices of the Northern Lighthouse Board. The Council, made up of technicians, keepers and engineers, is responsible for the maintenance and operation of more than 200 lighthouses in Scotland and the Isle of Man.
The keeper's cabin was sold and turned into a hotel and restaurant. Visitors can now choose whether to stay overnight in the original building or in the more modern structures erected on the 20-acre estate. There is also an Iron Age fort called Dunskirloch on the estate.
"It's a hidden gem," John Harris, who co-owns the hotel with his partner Helen Mason, told Herald correspondent Deborah Anderson in 2021. "Here are some of the oldest rock formations in Britain.... It is home to four caribou, seals, porpoises and there are sea otters swimming around the lighthouse."
Photo: smithsonianmag.com
Meanwhile, the white light at the top of the 34-meter tower still flashes every 30 seconds. "It's amazing to think that the work they did back then is still relevant today, even in the age of satellite navigation," says Juan Murray, whose great-great-great-grandfather Robert Murray worked at the lighthouse.
For now, the message in the bottle is being stored at the Northern Lighthouse Board office in Edinburgh. But as soon as experts finish repairing the lighthouse, they plan to return the bottle to its original location.
Next to it, today's engineers and lighthouse keepers plan to hide another bottle with its own note. "Maybe sometime in the future we'll be able to contact someone else," Miller says.