LOS ANGELES, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Earl John Seagars, a meteorologist and teacher who devoted his life to studying ocean currents, has died in California at the age of 86.
Seagars, who tracked currents by dropping wine bottles into the water with messages inside, was suffering from complications of heart disease, the Los Angeles Times reports.
A native of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Seagars became fascinated with the ocean after moving to Redondo Beach with his parents at an early age.
After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Seagars obtained a business degree from the University of Southern California and began a career in insurance.
When he was in his 50s, he started tracking ocean currents by setting wine bottles adrift to see where they would end up.
He always put a note inside the bottle listing his return address and asking whoever recovered the bottle to let him know where and when it was found.
Seagars offered the finder a reward but didn't include the fact that it was only $5 or $10.
He taught at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa for more than 20 years.
