Message in a Bottle Washes Ashore at Loop Head

6th October 2010

When Adam Flannery joined his family on holiday to Kilbaha, Co Clare this summer, little did he know that he would be assisting in a school science project that began some 6,000km away.

Yet that's exactly what happened when the 17-year-old picked up a message in a bottle on the beach at the Loop Head peninsula village.

"It was washed up on the shore, over the wall from Keatings Pub,” Adam's father Steve Flannery told the Clare Champion. “It was just an ordinary green wine bottle with a sealed rubber cork on it."

But the bottle was part of a study of ocean currents conducted by a science class at Melbourne High School, on the east coast of Florida, USA.

Adam followed the instructions inside to contact the school and give them the good news. Melbourne High science teacher Ethan Hall confirmed that the find was the first to cross the Atlantic in the four years he's conducted the project.

The bottle was thrown into the water close to the Gulf Stream in late April 2009 before beginning an incredible 16-month journey to west Clare at the mouth of the Shannon. It's currenty with the Flannery family at their home in Athlone, but they plan to return it to Kilbaha next summer.

Published in Shannon Estuary

Tagged under

About The Author

MacDara Conroy

Email The Author

MacDara Conroy is a contributor covering all things on the water, from boating and wildlife to science and business

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

You might also want to read...

Shannon Foynes Port Information

Shannon Foynes Port (SFPC) are investing in an unprecedented expansion at its general cargo terminal, Foynes, adding over two-thirds the size of its existing area. In the latest phase of a €64 million investment programme, SFPC is investing over €20 million in enabling works alone to convert 83 acres on the east side of the existing port into a landbank for marine-related industry, port-centric logistics and associated infrastructure. The project, which will be developed on a phased basis over the next five years, will require the biggest infrastructure works programme ever undertaken at the port, with the entire 83 acre landbank having to be raised by 4.4 metres. The programme will also require the provision of new internal roads and multiple bridge access as well as roundabout access.