# What's The Best Way To Send Out "Messages in Bottles"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-send-out-messages-in-bottles/196414>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 20, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-send-out-messages-in-bottles/196414 "2003-08-20T12:44:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-send-out-messages-in-bottles/196414/1 "2003-08-20T12:44:10Z")

</div>

I promised my children that we would send out some messages in bottles this summer…we will be on Cape Cod the end of August for vacation. Suppose I have 20-25 bottles, each with a neatly types message inside…where should I drop them (to be sure that someof them reach the open ocean)? Should I drop them on an exposed piece of coastline? On the ebbin tide?  
What are the chances that my bottles will make it into the Pacific?  
Have you ever found a message in abottle?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-send-out-messages-in-bottles/196414/2 "2003-08-20T18:13:40Z")

</div>

If I were you, I’d find out from the locals when the outgoing tide current starts. Then I’d go to the mouth of the inlet, and throw the bottles into the heart of the current. If you could cajole a local fisher to take them out further, so much the better.

Consider the consequences of your sentimental errand, though. You’ll probably be breaking local litter laws. If you use glass bottles, you’ll be part of the reason it’s dangerous to walk barefoot on some beaches, and yadda yadda blah blah …  
:dubious:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-send-out-messages-in-bottles/196414/3 "2003-08-22T07:42:24Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ralph124c \*  
> \*\*Have you ever found a message in abottle? \*\*

Not yet.

See [http://www.pbs.org/odyssey/odyssey/20020618\_log\_transcript.html](http://www.pbs.org/odyssey/odyssey/20020618_log_transcript.html)

> [@](#):
>
> The bottles that survive in the ocean longest seem to be those that were weighted with sand and had a screw cap, suggesting that the sand ballast held the bottle upright so its lid was out of the sea water more time and therefore corroded more slowly.