Slashdot Mirror
Message In Bottle Found After 98 Years Near Shetland
An anonymous reader writes "A drift bottle released in June 1914 by Captain CH Brown of the Glasgow School of Navigation has been found. Part of a project to help map currents, 1,890 scientific research bottles were released around Scotland. Only 315 of them were ever recovered. From the article: 'Mr Leaper, 43, who found the bottle east of Shetland, explained: "As we hauled in the nets I spotted the bottle neck sticking out and I quickly grabbed it before it fell back in the sea. It was very exciting to find the bottle and I couldn't wait to open it."'"
According to this, sixpence translates to 2.5p, or 0.025L (not even going to try using the right character, /. will eat it). And according to this PDF, the Pound was worth roughly 76 times more in 2005 (the year it was written) than it was in 1914. So it comes out to be about 2L, or about US$3.
"the Pound was worth roughly 76 times more in 2005 (the year it was written) than it was in 1914."
Less. The pound was worth ~76 times less in 2005 than in 1914. See the graphs on pages 18 and 19.
"Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world." - Alan Greenspan, 1999
Depends on how you look at it. 76 L(1914) are only worth 1 L(2005), so in that sense it is worth less. But 1 L(1914) would buy you far more than 1 L(2005), so in that sense it is worth more.
"The bottle has been donated to a Shetland museum"
Well, at least he didn't open it.
One explanation, coming right up..