ENGINEERS at a lighthouse in Scotland have found a 132-year-old message in a bottle within the walls of the building.
The bottle was found in the Corsewall Lighthouse at the Rhins of Galloway in the south of Scotland.
It is believed the find is the first message in a bottle ever discovered in a lighthouse in Scotland.
The letter was found by engineer Ross Russell during an inspection. The Northern Lighthouse Board shared a video on social media of Dr Barry Miller, the lighthouse keeper for Corsewall Lighthouse who raced over to the site when workers notified him, reading the letter.
Miller said: "It was so exciting, it was like meeting our colleagues from the past. It was actually like them being there," he said.
"It was like touching them. Like them being part of our team instead of just four of us being there, we were all there sharing what they had written because it was tangible and you could see the style of their handwriting.
"You knew what they had done. You knew they had hidden it in such a place it wouldn't be found for a long, long time."
The engineers used all there skill they had to cut the top off the cork, drill the cork out, and create a tool using two pieces of cable to twist the letter through the narrow opening.
The letter is dated September 4, 1892 and reveals the names of three engineers who installed a new lamp in the tower. It states:
Corsewall Light & Fog Signal Station, Sept 4th 1892.
This lantern was erected by James Wells Engineer, John Westwood Millwright, James Brodie Engineer, David Scott Labourer, of the firm of James Milne & Son Engineers, Milton House Works, Edinburgh, during the months from May to September and relighted on Thursday night 15th Sept 1892.
The following being keepers at the station at this time, John Wilson Principal, John B Henderson 1st assistant, John Lockhart 2nd assistant.
The lens and machine being supplied by James Dove &Co Engineers Greenside Edinburgh and erected by William Burness, John Harrower, James Dods. Engineers with the above firm.
Ross Russell, from Oban, who found the bottle with his colleagues Morgan Dennison and Neil Armstrong, said "it's a once in a lifetime find".
Russel said: "The note was just sensational, I was just in utter amazement. Being the first person to touch the bottle after 132 years was just mind blowing.
"It was just a strange coincidence to find the note while working on the equipment described on the note."
Russell said the group planned to replace the note and bottle adding another of their own.
A descendant of one of the lighthouse keepers, Euan Murray, a Royal Navy engineer who grew up 10 miles (16km) from the lighthouse in Stranraer, is the great great great grandson of Robert Murray who worked alongside John Wilson at Corsewall.
He said: "I do find it very interesting to see a bit of family history pop up out the blue like this.
"It's amazing to think that the work they did back then is still completely relevant today, even in the age of satellite navigation. Ships are still using these lighthouses for safe navigation on a daily basis.
"All the more apparent because of my career at sea and having passed the lighthouse many times on vessels arriving and departing from around the world. Always a nice sign of home."
