06/19/2026
the 132-Year-Old Message in a Bottle Found Hidden Inside the Walls of a Scottish Lighthouse
Engineers discovered the mysterious missive while working on repairs at Corsewall Lighthouse last month.
In 1892, engineers installed a new lens and lantern at the top of the Corsewall Lighthouse in Scotland—a major project that took them the entire summer to complete.
Once they had finished their work and re-illuminated the lighthouse, the team sat down with a quill, an inkwell and a piece of paper. In cursive, they wrote their names and briefly explained the project, then rolled up the paper and slid it inside a glass bottle. They plugged the top with an old cork wrapped in wire, then tucked the bottle inside a cavity in the lighthouse’s wall.
There the bottle remained, unbeknownst to anyone over the ensuing decades. But last month, engineers were once again at the lighthouse making some repairs. While working on the historic structure, they stumbled upon the glass bottle with the note inside.
When they fished the note out of the bottle and read it, the engineers realized they were working on the very same lens described in the 132-year-old missive. “It was a direct communication from them to us,” says Barry Miller, the lighthouse keeper.
Here's the full text of the note:
"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."
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