On March 6, 2018, a remarkable journey that began 132 years ago culminated in a stunning discovery on a beach in Western Australia-the world’s oldest message in a bottle. The note, concealed within a green beer bottle, was cast into the sea from a German ship named Paula, marking the start of an incredible voyage across the oceans.

The discovery was made by Tonya Illman, who was walking with her family along the beach when she spotted the bottle. “My husband and I were just strolling along the sand dunes above the shoreline, and I saw something sticking out of the sand about half a meter down,” Illman said. “It looked like a glass beer bottle, so I dug it up, and to our amazement, we found an old, faded note inside.” Upon further inspection, the note appeared to be written in German and dated 1886. It included the name and address of the ship’s captain and a request that the finder send it back to the German Naval Observatory in Hamburg, a renowned institution for maritime research and navigation.

Incredibly, the Illmans tracked down Captain Kurt Pedersen’s descendants and notified them of their find. The descendants were reportedly astonished and deeply moved by the discovery. They also honored the captain’s request by sending the 126-year-old message back to Hamburg. “We thought it would be an amazing adventure to try and find Captain Federsen’s relatives and return this remarkable message to them after all these years,” Illman said. “The whole story is incredible – from how long ago it was thrown overboard to how far it has traveled across oceans and finally being discovered on a remote beach near where we live. It really is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.”

Another German ship, the Mimi, previously held the record for the world’s oldest message in a bottle. In 1866, it tossed a similar bottle overboard—just 20 years before Paula did.