The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a message in a bottle found on a Texas beach was one of 7,863 released about 56 years ago.
NOAA Fisheries said Candy and Jim Duke were walking along Padre Island National Seashore near their Corpus Christi home when they found the bottle near mile marker 22.
A faded orange note inside the glass said “BREAK BOTTLE,” but the couple instead elected to carefully extract the bottle’s contents without breaking it.
NOAA said the bottle was one of 7,863 released between February 1962 and December 1963.
The agency said the bottles contained postcards and instructions for the finder to mail the cards with the date and location of the discovery in exchange for a 50-cent reward.
“The releases were part of a study to determine the role that water currents play in the movement of young shrimp from offshore spawning grounds to inshore nursery grounds,” NOAA said.
The Dukes said the bottle will have a place of honour among their collection of treasures found during beach strolls.
It was unclear whether NOAA Fisheries gave them their 50-cent reward.