Russian sailor’s 50-year-old message in a bottle washes up in Alaska

An Alaskan man searching for firewood has discovered a 50-year-old message in a bottle from a Cold War Russian sailor.

An Alaskan man searching for firewood has discovered a 50-year-old letter in a bottle from a Russian sailor.

Taylor Ivanoff came across the glass bottle with a cork stopper near Shishmaref, about 966 kilometres northwest of Anchorage, and shared his discovery on his Facebook page, hoping for a translation of the text.

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Mr Ivanoff found the handwritten Russian letter dated 1969 early this month while gathering firewood near Shishmaref in Alaska. Picture: Tyler Ivanoff via AP

After Mr Ivanoff posted his appeal on social media, Russian speakers translated the message to be a greeting from a Cold War Russian sailor dated June 20, 1969.

“I had to pull really hard. I used my teeth to really work it out,” Mr Ivanoff told The Nome Nugget newspaper of retrieving the message from the bottle.

“It was still dry on the inside and still smelled like wine or whatever, old alcohol. The note was dry.”

The letter included an address and asked for a response from whoever found it:

“Sincere greetings! From the Russian Far East Fleet mother ship VRXF Sulak. I greet you who finds the bottle and request that you respond to the address Vladivostok -43 BRXF Sulak to the whole crew. We wish you good health and long years of life and happy sailing. 20 June 1969.”

Reporters from Russian network, Russia-1, tracked down the author of the note, 86-year-old Captain Anatoly Botsanenko.

The captain was sceptical it was he who had penned the letter until he saw his signature on the bottom of the page.

“It looks like my handwriting,” Cpt Botsanenko said.

“For sure! East Industry fishing fleet! E-I-F-F!”

Soviet vessel ‘Sulak’. pic.twitter.com/QE48A9FKfd

— Capt(N) (@Capt_Navy) 8 August 2019

The message was sent while the then 36-year-old was aboard the Sulak, a ship he oversaw the construction of in 1966 and sailed on until 1970, USA Today reports.

Mr Botsanenko shed tears when Russian reporters told him the Sulak was sold for scrap in the 1990s.