Message in a bottle found on Barra after 4,000-mile journey

A message in a bottle has washed up on a Scottish beach more than 4,000 miles away from its origin.

By The Newsroom Sunday, 13th August 2017, 12:41 pm Updated Tuesday, 12th September 2017, 11:39 am

Map showing the route the bottle took, from the Dominican Republic to the west coast of Barra. Picture: Google Maps

The bottle, thrown into the sea in the summer of 2015, was written by a four-year-old German boy on holiday in the Dominican Republic.

The boy, known only as Luke, asked whoever found the bottle to reply to him as soon as possible.

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Kenny MacKinnon, a firefighter based at Barra Airport, found the bottle on the island’s west coast.

He told the Press and Journal newspaper: “I had just finished cutting the greens on the Barra Golf Course, and since it was a nice night I went down to the shoreline for a walk.

“I saw a bottle bouncing on the water, and because it’s a pebble beach, I went and got it before it smashed. It had growths on it, like barnacles, so I guessed it had been in the sea for a long time.”

Mr MacKinnon revealed how he could see there was a message inside, so he took the bottle home and removed the cork to get it out.

He continued: “It was a letter from a boy from Germany who was on holiday in the Dominican Republic, and he had sent the message from there in the summer of 2015.”

The message read: “Hello. My name is Luke. I’m on holidays with my brother Earle and my father Felix and my mother Kerstin.

“We are staying 3 weeks in the Dominican Republic. I’ll become 5 years on the 11th of November. I’m going on to write this letter in hope to receive an answer as soon as possible.”