Harbor tides washing bodies, message bottles, etc. out to sea. Or not.

I’m a fun guy. I’ve often thought about sending out a few messages in a bottle. Of course I have dreams of them floating to Africa or Java or someplace equally cool.

But then a local news story will make headlines to discourage me. Bodies or belongings from boating/crime/suicide victims will turn up in local waters weeks or months after they’ve gone missing. Unbelievably (to me at least) they are always found within a short distance – a handful of miles or less – of where they likely met their demise. I would have figured that they had long ago floated out to sea.

So, what gives? How can I get my messages to Java?

I am strictly landbound here in NYC. The best launch point I can manage for my message bottles is the Staten Island Ferry or an East/Hudson River Bridge.

I suppose I could head out to Coney Island or the north or south shores of Long Island. That would give me direct access to open (as opposed to harbor) waters, but that means the bottle is only going to plop down as far from the shore as I could fling it – not very far indeed.

What’s the best way to get my bottles to points exotic? Informed advice from oceanographers, fisherfolk, seafarers, merpersons and pirates welcome.

I think that in many cases the harbor is big enough, in volume, and the tides small enough that the tides never fully change the water in the harbor.

NYC harbor has the Hudson River flowing through it. so I think that absent any tide at all, there’s a good chance that your bottle would make it out. If you drop your bottle in the current from the Hudson just as a high tide turns to an ebb tide you’d have a good shot. Drop it from the ferry about the time you’re lined up with the Hudson river.

Stuyguy - Born and raised on the Long Island Sound Coast. Here’s the formula for success for getting your bottle somewhere cool, even if it does land in Iceland.

The long Island sound empties into the Atlantic ocean at Montauk Point. So take the two hour drive to the tip of long island, make sure you are there right when HIGH tide hits. Cast the bottle which must be a champagne bottle, it would be the most durable - unless you want to use plastic - and make sure the inside is completely free from any moisture. Seal the bottle not with a cork, as they rot during long sea voyages, but with one of those NEW plastic corks, then seal with super glue.
Launch it as far as you can throw from the lighthouse. Out to an easterly point. The Gulf Stream circulates north past Maine, past Iceland, and lands in the UK. Highly unlikely it would travel to Africa. Sorry. I’d put your Doper sig on it - YOU NEVER KNWO WHO’S GOING TO PICK IT UP.

I found a wonderful bottle with a messege in it. Many years back. I framed the messege as it had a great term of endearment on it, and it is in my study today!! Good luck!

**also I’d send two or three identical bottles, one hour appart incase you miss the tide some how. Don’t forget make sure it is HIGH tide, because you want the bottles to go OUT WITH THE TIDE.

Place the bottles in your airline luggage. No telling where or when they will show up.:smiley:

If you want to get your bottle into the Gulf Stream, you’ll need to drive a little South. It pretty much bounces off the outer banks and heads East from there. Here’s a color enhanced NASA image, the stream represented in light green.

If you do get your bottle into the stream, it’s definitely going places. I’ve spent a great deal of time plying those waters and that thing really moves.

Having spent only a few weeks in New York harbor, I think your chances are better in the Hudson, vice the East river, but I could be wrong. I remember the East River having a faster current North, than South, probably because the river is short, and starts in Long Island Sound. Whereas the Hudson probably has a stronger ebb, because that is also (I’m assuming) the natural flow of the river.

Either way, give it shot. Can’t hurt, right? Although aahala’s luggage idea will probably yield better results. Provided you ever hear from your luggage again.

When I worked at a biological station on the coast, the guy there said that messages in bottles weren’t all that uncommon… most of them come from drunken fishermen or guys out drinkng in a boat who have a little fun while tossing their empties overboard. Kinda ruined my expectation of finding an amazing treaure whenever I see a bottle floating by…

We had one float up by our station on Lake Michigan once. The soggy but legible note inside said something along the lines of:

We framed the note, and I’ll bet it’s still hanging up at the station. I wonder if anyone ever found them…:dubious:

Crazy kids.