Ever since we were kids, many of us were enchanted by the idea of going on a treasure hunting adventure. But of course, such treasures wouldn’t be so valuable if they was easy to find.
So on those rare occasions where people do genuinely get the chance to hunt for treasure , they’ll often find that the results are more frustrating than fun. And while events like these attract multiple hunters, it’s also true that not all of them can realistically find it.
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Instead, what we can often learn is that those who discover some of the world’s more fascinating finds did so by complete accident.
And while one Michigan boat captain didn’t make herself rich with her unexpected discovery, it’s fair to say that she’s enriched multiple people’s lives by doing so.
On June 18, boat captain and tour company owner Jennifer Dowker was speaking to a client who was interested in scuba diving through her firm.
As she told the Detroit Free Press , she let him try out a breathing regulator on the shore of the Cheboygan River while she cleaned the windows of her glass bottom boat.
But while she was down there, she wanted to find something to keep her client interested so she swam upstream and came across a green bottle.
But little did she know, that bottle would turn out to be a lot more than a passing curiosity.
When Dowker removed the bottle’s partially disintegrated cork, she discovered a message inside that had managed to remain legible despite being underwater since 1926.
As she said, “We pulled it out and none of us could believe our eyes. It was so cool! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime find.”
As she examined the note, she saw that its sender requested that it be returned to George Morrow of Cheboygan, Michigan.
But any curiosity she had about who this could be would have to wait while she handled more immediate business matters.
In her words, “Saturday morning when I woke up, my phone had gone berserk, and I was busy on the boat all day doing scuba charters and glass-bottom boat tours.”
So when commenters on the post announcing her initial discovery noticed that she couldn’t respond to their suggestions, they took matters into their own hands.
By Father’s Day, someone who had seen the post apparently managed to notify Morrow’s surviving daughter Michele Primeau about what Dowker had found.
And once Dowker got into contact with her, she learned that Morrow had likely placed the bottle into the water himself.
As Dowker put it, “She was like, ‘I’m sure this was my father. He’s been known to do things like that, he’s done that his whole life.’ And she said I wouldn’t put it past him to have placed that bottle in the water on his 18th birthday.”
Given that she had a diary with Morrow’s handwriting, Dowker was convinced that Primeau was indeed who she said she was.
And although Dowker was prepared to return the bottle to Primeau, the daughter eventually let her company keep it to keep Morrow’s memory alive.
Dowker now plans to put the bottle and a young photo of Morrow on display on her boat and has offered Primeua a lifelong pass for tours through Nautical North Family Adventures.
h/t: Detroit Free Press
