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Modern Mysteries

Was this note written by a Titanic passenger ?

By T.K. Randall
May 9, 2021 · Comment icon 6 comments

Did a Titanic passenger write this ? Image Credit: University of Quebec at Rimouski
A message-in-a-bottle found washed up on a beach in Canada may have come from the ill-fated vessel.
Discovered by a New Brunswick family on Hopewell Rocks beach in the Bay of Fundy back in 2017, the note appears to have been written by a young girl who was traveling aboard the Titanic in 1912.

Dated one day before the ship sank and bearing the signature of Mathilde Lefebvre, it reads:

"I am throwing this bottle into the sea in the middle of the Atlantic. We are due to arrive in New York in a few days. If anyone finds it, tell the Lefebvre family in Lievin."

Researchers at the University of Quebec at Rimouski (UQAR) are now attempting to determine if the note is genuine and if it really came from a passenger who was aboard the Titanic.
"The bottle could be the first Titanic artifact found on the American coast," said Prof Maxime Gohier. "But the story of its discovery and the enthusiasm it arouses is also an interesting subject of study."

"The discoverers were met by members of the team to document the location and circumstances of the find, as well as members of the Lefebvre family residing in Aix-en-Provence."

Mathilde Lefebvre had been a third-class passenger traveling to New York with her mother to join their father who had previously traveled to the United States with four of her siblings.

As things stand, researchers have been unable to confirm the note's authenticity, however they have not found anything to expose it as fraudulent either.

"We can already confirm that materially, the bottle and its contents are not incompatible with the date written on the letter," said Prof Manon Savard.

Source: Lad Bible | Comments (6)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by JVG 4 years ago
That’s a great story. Thanks SW....
Comment icon #2 Posted by TigerBright19 4 years ago
Thousands of ships have crossed the Atlantic and by some miracle the only bottle to wash ashore came from the Titanic.  Nice story, but I doubt it is real.  In the decades that followed the sinking there were reports of Titanic wreckage and bottles washing ashore and none of them turned out to be real.  Each generation seems to add to the tales of the Titanic.  When I was a kid and I heard about the Titanic I thought about putting a message in a bottle (who hasn't).  I'm sure it was done by kids as far back as 1912.  Another problem is that the Gulf stream had pushed the sea currents an... [More]
Comment icon #3 Posted by the13bats 4 years ago
Im with tiger on this one, While my bottles and paper wasnt period correct i admit that during the time in the 80s a few friends and myself tossed out bottles we did a few fake ones, With all the interest in the titanic the last few decades i imagine it wouldnt be hard to find a name of a passenger and my yard is full of 100yo bottles, its not hard to hoax, fooling experts that would be the hurdle. I also see the group investigating this bottle are being very careful not to be taken in and duped,
Comment icon #4 Posted by ercbreeze 4 years ago
Imagine a bottle with a message inside bobbing in the Atlantic Ocean for 105 years--and the bottle didn't break, sink, and the message didn't totally fad or be destroyed . . .    No way!
Comment icon #5 Posted by Piney 4 years ago
The bottle wasn't oxidized like the ones you find on the beach. 
Comment icon #6 Posted by Oniomancer 4 years ago
You mean "sick glass"? Depends on the conditions. Sand drains fairly quickly so if it was thrown at or above the strand line it might've stayed relatively dry. Don't know what happens in open water. It certainly doesn't look scoured so it wasn't rolling around in the surf for a long time but that's consistent with a recent beaching or a storm deposit.


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