Secret 132 year old message in a bottle found in the wall of the lighthouse

Engineers have found a bottle containing a 132-year-old message deep within the walls of a lighthouse in southern Scotland.

The bottle was found in the Corsewall Lighthouse at the northernmost point of the Rhins of Galloway.

The ‘once in a lifetime’ find is believed to be the first message in a bottle ever discovered in a lighthouse in Scotland.

The letter, dated September 4, 1892, written in quill and ink, reveals the names of three engineers who installed a new type of light in the 30-foot tower.

It also contains the names of the three lighthouse keepers.

The 8-inch bottle was found during an inspection by Northern Lighthouse Board mechanical engineer Ross Russell.

He discovered it after removing panels from a cabinet, but it was well out of reach. The team retrieved it using a device made of rope and a broomstick.

But they waited until the lighthouse keeper, Barry Miller, arrived before opening it.

“My goodness, I’m grateful they do that,” he said.

The bottle has a special convex bottom, which means it cannot stand upright, and is made of coarse glass, full of small air bubbles.

It is believed that it once contained oil.

The bottle stopper was cork, which had expanded over time and stuck to the glass, while the thread holding the cork in place had rusted away.

The men had to cut off the top of the cork and very carefully drill the cork out.

The note initially seemed too large to pull out the neck of the bottle, so they devised a tool with two lengths of cable to twist it through the narrow opening.

Mr Miller, 77, told BBC Scotland News that his hands were shaking when he opened it.

“It was so exciting, it was like meeting our colleagues from the past. It was actually like they were there,” he said.

“It was like I was touching them. Like they were part of our team instead of just the four of us. We were all there sharing what they had written because it was tangible and you could see the style of their handwriting.

‘You knew what they had done. You knew they hid it in such a place that it wouldn’t be found for a very long time.”

Corsewall light and fog signal station, September 4, 1892.

This lantern was erected by James Wells Engineer, John Westwood Millwright, James Brodie Engineer, David Scott Labourer, of the firm of James Milne & Son Engineers, Milton House Works, Edinburgh, during the months of May to September and was relit on Thursday evening, the 15th of September 1892.

The following are the guards at the station at this time: John Wilson Principal, John B Henderson 1st Assistant, John Lockhart 2nd Assistant.

The lens and machine are supplied by James Dove & Co Engineers Greenside Edinburgh and built by William Burness, John Harrower, James Dods. Engineers from the above-mentioned company.

Ross Russell, who found the bottle with his colleagues Morgan Dennison and Neil Armstrong, said it was an incredible discovery.

“The note was just sensational, I was just stunned,” Ross said.

“It was just amazing to be the first person to touch the bottle after 132 years.

“It’s a unique find.”

The engineers had traveled to the 209-year-old lighthouse ahead of a year-long project to check the bearings on which the five-tonne lens rotates.

They were trying to look under the floor to see if that part could hold the lens while it was out of place, when they found the bottle.

The men who wrote the note in 1892 had been at the lighthouse installing a different type of lantern and glazing on the top of the tower.

“It was just a strange coincidence that I found the note while I was working on the equipment described in the note,” Ross said.

The 36-year-old said they planned to replace the note and bottle where they found it and add one of their own.

Meanwhile, a descendant of one of the lighthouse keepers said he was delighted by the discovery.

Euan Murray, who grew up 10 miles from the lighthouse in Stranraer, is the great-great-grandson of Robert Murray who worked with John Wilson in Corsewall.

“I find it very interesting to see a piece of family history pop up out of nowhere,” he said.

The 32-year-old added: “It’s amazing to think that the work they did back then is still completely relevant today, even in the age of satellite navigation.”

The Royal Navy’s chief engineer said: “Ships still use these lighthouses every day for safe navigation.

“All the more so because of my career at sea and because I have passed the lighthouse many times on ships arriving and departing from all over the world. Always a nice sign of home.”