London (AP) – It was scooped up from the sea after 98 years, and now officials
say a message in a bottle discovered in Scotland has set a world record.

Fisherman Andrew Leaper found the bottle– released in 1914 — in his nets
in April while sailing east of the Shetland Islands, which lie off Scotland’s
northern coast.

Guinness World Records confirmed Thursday the find is the oldest message
in a bottle ever recovered, beating a previous record by five years.

It was released in a batch of 1,890 bottles in a government experiment to map
the undercurrents of the seas around Scotland.

Inside each bottle, a postcard asks the finder to record details of the discovery
and promises a reward of a sixpence. Unfortunately for Leaper, the coin no
longer exists.

Andrew Leaper