North Carolina girl's message in a bottle found in Ireland

Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A young North Carolina girl's message in a bottle traveled 3,500 miles in about 15 months and was found by a grandmother walking on an Ireland beach.

Laura Terry, 9, and Summit School teacher Susan Schambach were contacted by Irish woman Bridie Patten, who said she found Terry's message in a bottle on Doohoma Beach in western Ireland in January.

Terry's note explained the bottle was part of a class science project and gave the finder instructions on how to reach the girl and her school.

Schambach shared Patten's reply.

"It says 'so excited. Laura we got your bottle, we will hang it on the wall,'" the teacher told WXII-TV. "And since then I've gotten an email from her daughter and two of her grandchildren and now were starting a correspondence with the children's school."

Schambach said Terry's bottle, and others created by her class, were launched by a boat captain about 40 miles off the North Carolina coast.

She said about 70 bottles have been launched by her classes over the years, and Terry's is only the fifth to be discovered.