Toy boat, 27 years adrift, washes ashore
On Oct. 7, a small wooden boat drifted ashore on Lake Superior, leaving locals with a puzzling mystery.
The Apostle Islands National Seashore in Wisconsin, a U.S. National Parks service, said the red, white, and blue boat was found with a message inscribed on its hull.
“I am traveling to the ocean. Please put me back in the water. Will you send information on your whereabouts to, Lakewood School, Room 116 & 118 5207 N. Tischer Duluth, MN 53304,” read the tiny vessel.
According to a Facebook post from Duluth Public Schools, they were equally perplexed, but discovered the boat is a lesson-turned-legacy project from two teachers, Brenda Schell and Bonnie Fritch. In 1993 and 1994, the duo released boats for a lesson on the book “Paddle-to-the-Sea.”
“A friend of Brenda’s made the boats for us and our classes painted them and added the message to the bottom. On our end of the year field trip for our Duluth unit we stopped at Brighton Beach to launch the boats, ”wrote Fritch in the Facebook post.
Fritch added that after her boat washed up the following year, they added more varnish and sent it out once again. Schell’s boat has yet to be recovered.
“I thought we wouldn’t hear any more about it, ”wrote Fritch “Amazing it is still out there.”
Last week, Lynn BeBeau and her husband were hiking when they found the boat, 27 years after it was set adrift.
“We decided we wanted to go check out this area and my husband sees this red wood sticking out” BeBeau told CNN. “He goes to pick it up and it’s this crazy little boat!”
BeBeau said it was an extremely fun and unexpected discovery.
After snapping some photos, the couple re-released the boat as per the inscribed instructions.
“You just never know what you are going to find, so get out there and explore because there is stuff to be found,” she said.