Message from 1937 found in ‘fluke discovery’
Folk tales would have you believe a message in a bottle should wash up on the beach after years at sea, but in Christchurch an 85-yearold bottle has been found encased in a concrete memorial, completely by chance.
The glass bottle containing a note was found inside the concrete core of the Citizens’ War Memorial when it was dismantled and moved from Cathedral Square last year.
The note contained the names of the original stonemasons who worked on the memorial. It is dated February 1937.
The Christchurch City Council announced the find yesterday morning, with the head of vertical capital delivery, Brent Smith, describing it as a ‘‘fluke discovery’’.
‘‘The contractor was working on dismantling the concrete core of the memorial when a big chunk of concrete broke off, revealing the glass bottle,’’ Smith said. ‘‘If the concrete had not broken in that exact spot, we would never have found it.’’
After its discovery, the bottle was given to a team of conservators at Canterbury Museum, who tried to access the note.
Some moisture had seeped into the bottle, so they had to wait several weeks for the paper to dry out before it could properly be extracted.
‘‘The note is a bit worse for wear, but it is an amazing link to the past that could easily have laid undiscovered,’’ Smith said.
Despite some disintegration, the names of the five stonemasons who worked on the memorial and the note’s date remain visible.
Smith said the note showed the stonemasons were very proud to build the memorial and wanted their role remembered.
‘‘I am delighted that 85 years on we have recovered the note they hid and can publicly acknowledge them for their skilled workmanship,’’ Smith said.