SWNSOver two decades ago, a little girl from Kent sent a message in a bottle across the sea, in the hopes of finding a new pen pal.
Susie Hampton, then just 10-years-old, reached out into the ether from Sheppey on August 25 1997 – and maybe now she might just get a response.
Her message, endearingly sealed in a plastic bottle, has braved the seas to wash up 216 miles away on the shores of Vlieland, an island in northern Netherlands.
SWNSIt read:
To whoever picks up this bottle.
Hi my name is Susie Hampton. I’m 10 years old. I put this bottle in the water on 25/8/97.
Can you write and tell me where you found it and when?
Susie, who will now be 30, also included her childhood home address, 49 Kings Road, Minster-on-Sea, Sheppey, Kent, ME12 THL.
SWNSIt was found by Pieter Schaper, a member of conservation agency Staatsbosbeheer, during a beach clean up operation on Monday. Pieter now hopes to find Susie.
Let’s hope the no-longer-little Susie Hampton is found and learns the truth of how far her message travelled!
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.