A MESSAGE in a bottle tossed into the sea by British scientists that was washed ashore in Germany more than 100 years later has been confirmed as the world’s oldest.

    The historic missive was sent by George Parker Bidder between 1904 and 1906 — along with a postcard and the promise of a shilling to the finder.

    It was eventually picked up in April last year by retired post office worker Marianne Winkler as she holidayed on the island of Amrum, off the north coast of Germany.

    The message inside was sent back to its return address, the Marine Biological Association (MBA) in Plymouth, Devon.

    This week, Guinness confirmed that it now held the world record for the oldest-ever message of its kind to be discovered.

    Spokesman Amber-Georgina Gill said, “The oldest message in a bottle spent 108 years and 138 days at sea after being released by the Marine Biological Association (U.K.) in the North Sea (52° 4.8’ N; 003° 37’ E), on Nov. 30, 1906.

    “The message was found at Amrum Island, Germany, on April 17, 2015.”

    The previous record holder had spent 99 years and 43 days at sea and was released in 1914 as part of a similar research experiment.

    Bidder was president of the MBA 1939-1945 and released over 1,000 bottles between 1904 and 1906 as part of his research.

    The bottles were released as part of a project to find out about deep-sea currents, and were specially designed to float just above the seabed.

    With the data from the bottles that were found, Bidder was able to prove for the first time that the deep sea current flowed from east to west in the North Sea.

    He also discovered that plaice generally swim against the deep current — valuable commercial information for the fishing trade.

    Out of the 1,020 sent out, some were never returned and were assumed by scientists to be lost in the open ocean forever.

    (SD-Agencies)