Letters and Notes from a Lost Era Found in Bottles and on Beaches Around the World

by Paul Brown

Messages from the Sea is a collection of found correspondence from a lost era of seafaring. These letters and notes were found washed ashore on beaches and bobbing in water, in corked glass bottles and wax-sealed boxes, inside the mouths of codfish and in the bellies of sharks, carved on pieces of wrecked ships and attached to the necks of seabirds. They tell tales of foundering ships, missing ocean liners and shipwrecked sailors, and contain moving farewells, romantic declarations and intriguing confessions. Some solve the mysteries of lost vessels and crews, while others create new mysteries yet to be solved.

The messages date from the late-19th and early-20th centuries, an era before shipto- shore radio, when a vessel lost contact with the world once it disappeared over the horizon. For many seafarers, the message in a bottle was a vital and valuable form of communication. Found messages were published in national and local newspapers around the world (often in columns titled Messages from the Sea), from which the content of this book is drawn. Together, they demonstrate the brave, lonely and fragile nature of life on the ocean waves.

This is an interesting book that will appeal to some.

Published by:

Superelastic
www.superelasticbooks.com

Hardback: 204mm x 125mm, 193pp illustrated

Price: £15