Fisherman Discovers Message in a Bottle With Heartbreaking Story Behind It

An amateur fisherman has lifted the lid on the story behind a message in a bottle he discovered while out in his kayak around Chesapeake Bay.

Mechanic Gregory D'Alessio from Alexandria, Virginia, took to Reddit to share a snapshot of the unique discovery he made while fishing near Maryland's Solomons Island: a glass bottle filled with handwritten notes.

The post proved popular, earning more than 59,000 upvotes on the social media platform as users began to speculate over what the notes inside the bottle said.

According to the book Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science by Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano [via Vox] as of 2009 an estimated 6 million bottled messages had been released into the world's oceans, including 500,000 from oceanographers keen to learn more about the way currents work.

But the one discovered by D'Alessio was sent out for altogether more personal reasons.

D'Alessio told Newsweek he's an avid sea fisherman in his spare time and is particularly fond of the area where he made the discovery. "I love fishing; I fish all over the Chesapeake bay from my kayak. I go to Solomons Island a lot actually, it's a great fishing spot," he said.

He was out there on Thanksgiving when he found the bottle. Up until that point, it had not been a trip to remember. "I was on my way back to the launch site after a pretty unlucky day of fishing," he said. "I broke one of my favorite rods while I was reeling in a big Rockfish and lost the fish."

D'Alessio makes it a habit to try and clear up any trash he sees floating out on the water while out in his kayak. That was how he ended up stumbling upon the bottle. "I saw this big bottle floating just off the dock of Bunkys Charter boat rental so I went over to it to get it out of the water so I could throw it away when I got back to shore," he explained.

"When I got closer, I thought at first it was filled with cigarette butts but it turned out to be a bunch of scrolls and a small pouch." On closer inspection he saw a note explaining the bottle was part of a memorial for a recently deceased loved one. It also encouraged anyone finding the note to have it "set free" back out in the ocean.

The card inside was an obituary for Emma Jean Ennis, an 82-year-old Maryland great-grandmother who passed away in January 2021.

"I didn't actually open the bottle because I assumed the letters were personal and didn't want to pry, it didn't seem respectful," D'Alessio said. Instead, he contacted a number included within the memorial for anyone who might come across the bottle. "The person that responded was very grateful, told me I 'made their Thanksgiving,' which made me pretty happy about having a bad fishing day," D'Alessio said.

He said the family member told him the bottle had been launched from Seahorse Beach, a coastal area around four miles north of the shore at Chesapeake Bay, last Saturday. Eager to ensure the family's wishes were respected, D'Alessio set the bottle back into the river and back on its journey out to sea.

"It hasn't traveled far but I'm sure it has a long journey ahead of it," he said. "Hopefully it makes its way back out to the bay and maybe even the Atlantic ocean. No telling where it could end up honestly."

While he said he would never condone throwing trash in the waters, this was different. It was special. "There's just something so romantic and exciting about finding a message in a bottle," he said. "I've traveled hundreds of miles in my kayak fishing everywhere from Rhode Island to the Outer Banks and this is the first message in a bottle I've come across."

Having won praise from his fellow Redditors for sending the bottle on its way, D'Alessio is content in the knowledge that those treasured memories of a beloved family member float on out there to one day wash up where others can learn of the life that was lived.