In 2019, a man in the United States was chopping wood on the coast when he suddenly spotted a green drifting bottle in the water. However, what happened next was something he didn't expect.
Waves crash against the sandy beaches of Shishmalev, Alaska, and Taylor Ivanov is strolling along the shoreline to collect some firewood.
The young village teacher is usually happy to take a walk by the sea, breathing in the fresh air of nature while preparing for the lesson. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a touch of emerald green, shimmering in the water in the sunlight.
Ivanov's curiosity paused and he couldn't help but quicken his pace.
When I got closer, it turned out to be a green glass bottle, firmly sealed by a plastic stopper, and on closer inspection, it seemed to be sandwiched with a piece of paper inside.
Ivanov leaned in to pick up the bottle, shook it slightly, and faintly heard the sound of paper rattling.
No matter what it contains, a bottle that has gone through many stormy waves and finally drifted here must have a wonderful story.
So Ivanov found tools and tried to pry the cork open, but the cork was sturdy, apparently old, and did not move.
Ivanov had spent a long time trying to no avail, so he simply gave up trying to pry it open, and decided to take the bottle home for the time being and find a way to open it.
Back home, Ivanov bit the cork with his teeth, twisted his hands vigorously, and was pleasantly surprised to hear a crisp "click", and the cork was finally pulled off by him!
The mouth of the bottle suddenly exudes an intoxicating aroma of wine, and it seems that this small bottle was once used to hold wine. Ivanov cautiously poked out the clamp and took the paper out of the bottle.
The paper was already a little yellowed, densely covered with text, and the handwriting was graceful and smooth, but unfortunately Ivanov could not understand what language it was.
He was a little disappointed, but he couldn't hide his excitement, a note drifting from nowhere, even if the content could not be immediately deciphered, its legendary experience alone was enough to arouse people's curiosity and yearning.
Ivanov snapped a photo of the note and shared the discovery on social media, and it didn't take long for someone to recognize it as Russian and try to decipher the meaning.
It was finally determined that the drifting bottle was from June 1969 and was a letter from a crew that had been adrift on the sea for half a century!
When the news spread, an old man named Anatoly Bochanenko saw the report, and the 86-year-old immediately burst into tears and confirmed to the media that the letter was exactly what he had written.
It turned out that Bochanenko had been the captain of the Far Eastern Shipping Shurak, and that year he dropped this drifting bottle with a greeting.
The old man still remembers that in those days, the fleet was deployed in the Pacific Ocean to carry out important tasks, and in the face of the vast sea, the seafaring personnel were thousands of miles away from home, and could only greet their relatives and friends in a simple and traditional way.
The drifting bottle is the carrier of their thoughts, and it is really gratifying and moving that it has been picked up half a century later.
Bochanenko also recalled the Shurak, a ship that no longer exists. Time flies, and the glory of the past is gone, and can only remain in the memories of the participants. But even so, this past is still remembered in the old captain's heart, which makes him miss the eventful years even more.
Above the rough sea, drifting bottles full of anticipation float slowly, maybe they will be swallowed up by the storm and disappear into the vast sea, maybe they will be picked up by someone on the coast somewhere thousands of miles away. No matter what the circumstances, these drifting bottles carry the yearning for a better life, the longing for friendship and connection.
Source: "Cover News of the Discovery of a 50-Year-Old Drifting Bottle in Alaska, USA, Actually from the Soviet Union during the Cold War".
