Message in a bottle: Menorca note riddle solved

Adam Burke from Portadown put the message in a bottle in Bangor, County Down, but brought it to Menorca to toss into the sea

A message in a bottle that travelled from Northern Ireland to the Mediterranean arrived by air, not sea.

The note from Bangor, County Down, did not make the freak journey of 2,000 nautical miles to the coast of Menorca as first thought.

A schoolboy from Northern Ireland, Adam Burke, threw the bottle in the water on Monday while on holiday in Menorca.

On Thursday a different Adam Burke said he thought it was one he had thrown into the sea at Bangor 13 years ago.

The bottle was found near the town of Ciutadella on Tuesday

So why was there the confusion?

It all stems from the Bangor connection.

The note that Spaniard Albert Voltas found on Tuesday in a bottle off the coast near the town of Ciutadella said: "Hello from Bangor N.I. from Adam Burke age 7."

The Spanish holidaymaker put out a global social media message to try to track down the Adam Burke in question.

After the message was shared thousands of times, Adam Burke, 20, from County Tyrone, thought it was his bottle. He remembered throwing a message in a bottle into the sea in Bangor 13 years ago when on a day trip with his grandparents.

He contacted the media and did a number of interviews.

When the family of another Adam Burke saw the media coverage, they realised it was actually their bottle. It had not been in the sea for 13 years - but only 24 hours.

This particular Adam Burke is seven years of age, and lives in Portadown.

So why does the note in the bottle say 'Hello from Bangor'?

His father, Gregory, takes up the story: "Adam and his friends Alex, Evan and Lewis were at a maritime festival in Bangor last month and made the bottles.

"When he got home, Adam realised he'd forgotten to throw his bottle in the water.

"We live in Portadown, nowhere near the sea, so we decided to wait until we went on holiday to Menorca. He threw it in the sea on Monday.

"It's definitely Adam's bottle. I got him to write out the note again just to check it was the same handwriting!"

As for the other Adam Burke, he is disappointed and accepts it is not his bottle.

He said: "It's just been a genuine coincidence. A lot of people threw bottles in the sea when they were younger, particularly in Bangor.

"It turns out the one in Menorca wasn't mine after all."

The bad news for Albert Voltas is that the washed-up bottle he thought had travelled 2,000 miles in the sea probably only travelled a mere 200 metres.

Yes, it did come all the way from Northern Ireland, but the majority of that journey was in a suitcase in a holiday jet.