Message in a bottle discovered by lighthouse workers after 132 years – they were amazed by the ‘strange coincidence’ in its contents

They couldn’t keep this bottled.

Engineers renovating a historic lighthouse in Scotland were blown away after discovering a 132-year-old message in a bottle – and it had a surprising connection to their project.

“The note was just sensational, I was in complete awe,” engineer Ross Russell, 36, told the BBC of the enlightening discovery.

Russell and his team had been renovating Corsewall Lighthouse in Kirkcolm when they discovered the bottle in a wall cavity in the lighthouse, which was built in 1817.

Construction technicians showed the letter to lighthouse keeper Barry Miller, who then read it aloud to the team assembled for the renovation project.

Initially joking that the parchment was a “treasure map,” the lighthouse keeper was shocked to realize it was a message written in needle ink in 1892 by the lighthouse’s engineers and caretakers at the time, according to The New York Times.

They are said to have fitted Corsewall’s post top with a new Fresnel lens – the same instrument their present-day counterparts had worked with.

Note, dated September. 1892, read: “This beacon was erected by James Wells Engineer, John Westwood Millwright, James Brodie Engineer, David Scott Labourer, of the firm of James Milne & Son Engineers, Milton House Works, Edinburgh, during the months of May to September, and re-displayed Thursday night, September 15, 1892.

“These are the guards at the station at this time, John Wilson Principal, John B Henderson 1st assistant, John Lockhart 2nd assistant.”

The letter also noted that the lens and machine were supplied by James Dove & Co. Greenside Engineers Edinburgh and installed by William Burness, John Harrower, James Dods who were engineers with the above firm.

The crew had written the said correspondence after completing the daunting project, which reportedly took the entire summer to complete, Smithsonian magazine reported. They then stuffed the encased directive into an old glass bottle with a stopper and hammered it into a cavity in the wall of the naval navigation station, where it remained undetected until last-ditch attempts at relighting.

The apparent significance was surprising to the lighthouse maintenance team, who thought the letter was meant for them.

“It was just a strange coincidence to find the note while working on the equipment described in the note,” exclaimed Russell.

Meanwhile, Miller called it “a direct communication from them to us.” Think of ships from different eras passing the night.

Euan Murray, a descendant of one of the lighthouse keepers named Robert Murray, said he was stunned by the discovery.

“I find it very interesting to see a piece of family history come out in the dark like this,” the 32-year-old Royal Navy engineer told the BBC. “It’s amazing to think that the work they did back then is still completely relevant today, even in the age of satellite navigation.”

He added, “Ships are still using these fairways for safe navigation on a daily basis.”

Now, the Corsewall crew plans to pass the proverbial torch — or lighthouse lens, rather — by placing another bottle message in the same hole in the wall.

“Maybe in the future, we will be able to communicate with someone else,” Miller declared.