Hunt for ‘Donkeyman’ who sent 1970 message in a bottle

IT was thrown into the sea in the hope of making a connection with someone living far away on a distant shore.

But the Scottish author of a message in a bottle that has been found in Germany could surely never have imagined he would have to wait so long to get a reply.

A seaborne missive written by an Edinburgh man has been picked up on a German beach more than four decades after he “posted” it into the ocean.

Penned by “Donkeyman” James Robertson, of either 42 or 72 Sleigh Drive, the message was launched into the waves on September 19, 1970, and has only now been discovered.

It was picked up by pensioner Bernd Igwerks on the island of Norderney, one of the Frisian islands, which belong to Germany, on the fringes of the North Sea.

Now a sleuth whose passion is to return messages in a bottle to their authors is appealing for help tracking down the “Donkeyman”, or someone who may have known him. The story, which appeared briefly in the German newspaper Norderneyer Morgen, was picked up by US blogger Clint Buffington, who collects tales about messages in bottles and publishes them on his website messageinabottlehunter. com.

The beachcomber has managed to solve a number of maritime message mysteries, but says this one has him stumped as there’s no one of that name living at the address on the note.

Mr Buffington, 32, of Salt Lake City, said: “A small German newspaper on a small German island ran a one-paragraph story, which seemed ambivalent about the message, even though it was to my mind an incredible discovery and I could not stand idly by.

“I feared the story would die in obscurity, even though it had the potential to be truly amazing – 47-year-old messages in bottles do not surface every day. And if I’m not wrong, there’s an interesting story to be heard from James Robertson, if he can be found.”

A few things are known about the bottle and its author, aside from his name and address. At first it was thought that “Donkeyman” was a nickname, but it’s since been revealed to be a title given to the person who maintained a ship’s engines.

This indicates that it was likely the bottle was thrown by someone working on a vessel in the North Sea.

The bottle is marked ‘JAS Dunbar’, which means it contained a soft drink make by the company James Dunbar LTD. The firm once occupied a factory in Albion Road, Edinburgh, and made a number of products before being bought over sometime in the 1970s.

Its discovery caused quite a stir on the island of Norderney, with journalist Dirk Kahler of the Norderneyer Morgen saying the story had become a talking point among both tourists and locals.

you can help solve this mystery, contact News@ theherald.co.uk.