The Journal

Dr. Anderson did some amazing digging and found a journal in the archives. This was Paula’s original meteorological journal. This journal kept a record of the research and experiments. It was a rare piece of history. Dr. Anderson found an entry in that journal which stood out in particular. 

The Entry

There was one entry made on June 12th, 1886, mentioning the record of a bottle that was thrown from the ship for an experiment. And according to Dr. Anderson, the coordinates and the date match exactly with the note found in the message inside the bottle. But that was not all. 

The Journey

As per the records, the bottle was thrown off in the south-eastern Indian Ocean. During this time the ship was traveling from Cardiff in Wales to Indonesia. That is how it washed up on the Australian coast within 12 months where it was buried under the sand until Tonya found it.

More Similarities

The handwriting in the journal matched exactly with the handwriting in the note, which confirms the note’s validity. The archaeologists could not believe that this bottle was right under their noses chilling on a beach in Western Australia and they never knew until now.

Experimented For Decades

According to the journal, the German researchers conducted those experiments for 69 years. During that period, the researchers flung off thousands of bottles out of which 662 messages were reported back but no bottles. Tonya was one of the rare ones who found the message intact inside the bottle without the bottle being broken or lost. 

Criticism

Despite the validation of the story and the message, the Illman’s received their share of criticism and skepticism from a few people. They found it hard to believe that the story was genuine and considering Kym’s marketing background, they assumed he just bought the bottle on one of his travels and presented it as something they accidentally discovered.