In 1990, while enroute to Vancouver Island for a camping trip, Jenny and Kevin Gorsline and their friend Devon Wallis wrote a message with their names and the Gorsline’s address into a bottle, and dropped it from the ferry to Nanaimo. Roughly one year later, they received the above letter back.
Just recently, Kevin and Jenny’s mother, Marian, was rifling through the family phone book and came across the three-page response to her children’s message in a bottle. She sent the above copies to her sister, Dee McCarthy, who has lived on Bowen for nine years now.
“The return address simply says HMS Cirdan. I’ve googled Cirdan and found it to be a reference to a mythical shipwright from the Lord of the Rings. There is reference in the letter, amazingly enough, at the start of the letter, which is presented as an excerpt from the ship’s log as follows: “July 25-26, 1990 - Collingwood Channel, Strait of Georgia, Bowen Island,” wrote Mariane to Dee. “It would appear that the author likely is a Bowen Island resident and I wonder after all these years, if the person is still alive, and if they would be interested in “outing themselves”. Would be such an amazing opportunity to know of and possibly meet the person who would spend so much time crafting such a beautiful response to a simple note in a bottle that said (and he/she quoted the exact wording, spelling mistakes and all) “Who ever gets this note please wright us From Devon Wallis (this was a young friend of Kev’s at the time), Jenny and Kevin Gorsline... Sorry to ramble on, but this letter really is magical and I’d love to personally thank whoever is responsible for it after all these years.”
If you happen to know who the author of this letter might be, please contact Marian Gorsline at (250) 573-4765 or by email at [email protected].
If you don’t, enjoy the poetic letter
