A man has discovered a 50-year-old letter in a bottle, sent in 1969 by a member of the Russian Navy, on the shores of western Alaska.

Key points: The note was still dry when it was found, despite being written 50 years ago

The note was still dry when it was found, despite being written 50 years ago The message included a request for a response from the person who finds it

The message included a request for a response from the person who finds it The Russian captain who sent it was sceptical he wrote it until he saw his signature

Tyler Ivanoff found the handwritten Russian letter earlier this month while gathering firewood near Shishmaref, about 966 kilometres north-west of Anchorage, local television station KTUU reported.

"I was just looking for firewood when I found the bottle," Tyler Ivanoff said.

"When I found the bottle, I had to use a screwdriver to get the message out," he added.

"It was still dry on the inside and still smelled like wine or whatever, old alcohol. The note was dry," he told the Nome Nugget newspaper.

Mr Ivanoff shared his discovery on Facebook where Russian speakers translated the message to be a greeting from a Cold War Russian sailor.

The message asked the person who found the bottle to send a reply to the crew of the ship "Sulak" in Vladivostok, signing off: "I wish you good health, long life and happy sailing. June 20, 1969".

Reporters from the state-owned Russian media network, Russia-1, tracked down the original writer, Captain Anatolii Prokofievich Botsanenko, KTUU reported.

He was sceptical he wrote the note until he saw his signature on the bottom.

"It looks like my handwriting. For sure! East industry fishing fleet! E-I-F-F."

According to the program, Captain Botsanenko oversaw the construction of the Sulak in 1966 and sailed on it until 1970.

He sent the message when he was 36 years old, the now-86-year-old said.

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Captain Botsanenko shed tears when the Russian television reporter interviewing him told him the Sulak was sold for scrap in the 1990s.

He also showed the reporter some souvenirs from his time on the ship, including the autograph of the wife of a famous Russian spy and Japanese liquor bottles, the latter kept over his wife's protests.

Anatolii Prokofievich Botsanenko, right, still has souvenirs from his time on the Sulak. ( Supplied: Russia-1 )

AP