Pat Robinson still can't believe the number of people from around the world who have sent messages to him and his wife Audrey, asking about the message he found in a bottle in the late 1940s.

"Lots of people have said, what a wonderful story, is it true? " said Robinson laughing. "It's true. I'm surprised at the publicity it's getting."

People from as far away as Australia and New Zealand have written messages to the couple about the unusual way they met.

Audrey Monroe was 14 years old when she tossed a bottle into the English Channel during a family vacation on the Isle of Wight.

Inside the bottle was a letter written in English and French, hoping she would find a pen pal and be able to correspond with a person in France, which was just across the waters of the English Channel.

But the wind and the waves brought the bottle, along with its message, back to Portsmouth, England.

That's where Pat, then 16, lived.

"My cousin found the bottle and gave it to her mother. And her mother, my aunt gave it to me," said Pat.

"For us, it's quite a simple thing. We got married, and we've lived this long, so we've been married that long," Pat Robinson said of his 70-year relationship with Audrey. (Joe Pavia/CBC)

Pat sent a photo and a short note to Audrey, and then told her he would be in town.

"I was part of the Royal Marine Band and after the war we did a lot of engagements," said Pat. "I was in London, so I just got on the underground and popped up to Uxbridge to see who this girl, Audrey Monroe was."

“He sent me a picture and it was nice," said Audrey Robinson. “He made up his mind to come up, and my parents liked him.” (Joe Pavia/CBC)

"He sent me a picture and it was nice,' said Audrey. " "He made up his mind to come up and my parents liked him."

They corresponded for about a year before they got engaged and then Pat was sent to serve in the Korean War.

Pat and Audrey were eventually married in July 1951. He was 21, and she was 19.

Besides having her home address in Uxbridge, Pat only vaguely remembers what the message in the bottle said and says he didn't keep the bottle or the note.

"I wasn't that sentimental," said Pat, laughing.

The couple moved to Guelph in 1953, and they now live in the Village of Riverside Glen care home in the city. They've been together almost 70 years.

"For us, it's quite a simple thing. We got married, and we've lived this long, so we've been married that long," Pat said.