Long Journey By Bottle Put In Sea At New Brighton

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29324, 1 October 1960, Page 12

Long Journey By Bottle Put In Sea At New Brighton

A card returned to the biology department of the University of Canterbury this week by a girl who lives at the tip of Cape York Peninsula, Australia, came as a surprise to the head of the department (Professor G.A. Knox). Released from New Brighton in a sealed bottle in 1953, the card, at a conservative estimate, could have travelled at least 12,000 miles by one route and 17,000 miles by another route during the seven years. Professor Knox said that in 195? a student was doing research into the habits of the tuatua, or what is known as the pipi. Bottles' weighted with pitch and sealed with a card inside were released at New Brighton in 1953 and 1954. Some bottles were recovered from Wellington, and one at the Chatham Islands. The card returned from Cape 'ork could have taken two routes, 'ild have gone across the Pacific Ocean until it hit

the South American coast at Peru. The. bottle would then follow the Peru current and swing into the equatorial current, which would take it across the ocean to north Australia.

If the bottle had travelled in a direct line it would have travelled at least 17,000 miles. The other route sfras shorter—about 12,000 miles. The bottle would go across the Pacific Ocean and through Drake Passage, which separates Grahamland and South America. From there it would go into the Indian Ocean, and up the west Australian coast. Then it would go through the Arafura Sea into Torres Strait, and finish at Cape York. Professor Knox said it was impossible to judge just how many miles the bottle containing the card travelled, and as the student who.had released the card had left- the university he did not think the card would help to throw much light on the habits of the pipi.