Message in a bottle washes up on Finnish shore after 28 years

Bottle message reaches sender after 28 years at sea in Finland

A message in a bottle launched off the Finnish coast in 1997 has reached its sender nearly three decades later. The letter, handwritten in pencil and enclosed in a small plastic flask, was discovered earlier this year by Agneta Malinen while cutting reeds on Harapois Island in the Korsholm archipelago. She spotted the bottle wedged into the shoreline.

Message in a bottle washes up on Finnish shore after 28 years

In the summer of 1997, an 11-year-old girl dropped a message in a bottle near the western coastal town of Larsmo, hoping for a pen pal. In 2025, she got one.