Photo Caption:
|  |
Captain Lyman J. Clark’s Handkerchief Lightship LV-98 is shown docked at the Chelsea Lighthouse Depot in this 1931 photo. In 1938, Lyman tried an experiment. The newspapers reported: “When Chief Warrant Officer Lyman J. Clark of Hamlin Ave. threw a bottle and note overboard from the Handkerchief Shoals Lightship in 1938, he wondered when and where it would be found. But little did he dream it would be found on the shore at Long Beach, Calif., nine years later.
Mr. Clark, at that time skipper of the lightship in lower Buzzards Bay, often had wondered about ocean current action and decided he’d try a little practice with a theory. On a slip of paper, he wrote his name, address and date, March 7, 1938. He requested the finder of the note to notify him.
A letter addressed to Mr. Clark at the lightship reached the Falmouth Coast Guard at his home here. The letter read: ‘This may seem strange, but nevertheless, it’s true. I found this note in a little bottle on Long Beach, Calif. My girlfriend and I were walking along the beach. She noticed a little bottle on the sand and picked it up with the intention of throwing it aside. This note was inside the bottle and I thought it might be nice to send it to you. Yours truly, Anthony S. Alberts.” (National Archives photo)
Back to the edition of: Nov/Dec 2022
|
