A man who found a message in a bottle from Ireland on a New Jersey beach was able to connect with the woman who wrote the message.

Frank Bolger was cleaning up trash on the beach with his wife and granddaughter when they found the message in a bottle. The note was dated July 17 2019. “Greetings from Ireland. I have thrown this bottle into the sea for someone to find another day. Maybe it’s travelled down to Africa or to Iceland! I won’t know if someone found this, but I hope it is found!”

His discovery went viral online, eventually coming to the attention of the sender Aiofe Byrne. Her father was watching the news when a story came up about the discovery and he called her in from another room.

Bolger said he was surprised and a little sceptical when Byrne reached out via email and asked her for writing samples. The author complied and said she was excited to learn her message in a bottle had been found so far from home. “I am kind of obsessed, well, very interested in messages in bottles, to be honest,” she said.

Listen to Kirste and Dan‘s chat below.