An Alaska man’s hunt for fire wood ended with the discovery of a various kind after he stumbled upon a 50- year-old message in a bottle.

Tyler Ivanoff discovered a letter composed in Russian, and published an appeal for a translation on his Facebook page.

It took place the letter had actually been composed by a sailor on board the Russian ship Sulak on 20 June 1969.

The story was chosen up by Russian media, which tracked down the letter-writer, Captain Anatoly Botsanenko.

Mr Ivanoff stated he had actually been looking for fire wood some 20 miles (32 km) west of his home town of Shishmaref when he came across the bottle, with a plastic cork stopper.

” I had to pull actually difficult. I utilized my teeth to actually work it out,” he informed The Nome Nugget newspaper.

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

His appeal on Facebook triggered a translation of the still readable note:

” Genuine greetings! From the Russian Far East Fleet mom ship VRXF Sulak. I welcome you who finds the bottle and request that you react to the address Vladivostok -43 BRXF Sulak to the whole team. We want you health and long years of life and delighted sailing. 20 June 1969.”

When Cpt Botsanenko, now 86 years old, was informed of the note he apparently rupture into tears of pleasure.

He informed the Russian TV channel Rossiya 1: “That doesn’t look like my handwriting. Oh yes, look! East industry fishing fleet! E-I-F-F!”

Cpt Botsanenko was reported to have actually supervised the construction of the Sulak in 1966 and sailed on it up until 1970.

Mr Ivanoff kept in mind on Facebook that it was “pretty cool how a little image grew into a story”, and has actually stated he might consider launching his own message in a bottle one day.

” That’s something I might most likely do with my kids in the future,” he was priced estimate by the Associated Press as saying. “Just send a message in a bottle out there and see where it goes.”